Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Mancunian comic Paul Campbell is dressed for a funeral, entering in a dishevelled black suit and tie with wild hair and appearing rattled and concussed. The image is assisted by the venue's terrible lighting, which makes every performer look like they're on a B-road at night, about to be hit by a car.

The funeral is for small-to-medium-sized supermarket chain Somerfield, which had a brief but glorious existence between the 1980s when it emerged from a rebranding of Gateway, and 2009, when it was bought out by the Co-Op. It’s also been Campbell’s spiritual home since he was a teenager. ‘When other kids were into weed and blowjobs, I was into Albanian cheese twists.’

Now in his 40s, living with his mother and working as a support worker for adults with autism, he feels he needs to make changes in his life to get himself back on track and become the man he was meant to be. 

I doubt his audience would agree – he might not fit the aspirational stereotype for a man of his age but he projects an endearing warmth and an infectious enthusiasm for the humdrum that could earn him comparisons to Bob Mortimer. Certainly you’d have to go a long way to find someone who’s given so much thought to the ‘long egg’ in a gala pie.

As a teen who ‘wasn’t good socially,’ Somerfield became his hangout of choice, and its employees had an acceptance of his idiosyncrasies which was hard to find in the wider world. He connected with the brand’s lack of pretension: its discount chocolate wafers and its ‘air-flavoured air fresheners’, and he transmits that connection to us.

At some time before the fall of the entire chain, his local Stretford branch became a Home Bargains, causing Campbell to go through the five stages of supermarket grief – the structure on which he hangs the show. To him, Home Bargains couldn’t compete with the poetry of Somerfield. ‘Home Bargains is such a boring name. It’s like if I called this show Autism.’

And that’s part of the subtext that runs through this hour. Out of choice, Campbell hasn’t sought diagnosis, but his experience in the area leads him to strongly suspect that he’s somewhere on the spectrum. If that’s the case, Somerfield makes for a very charming special interest, and this gentle, sweet-natured show makes a good case for how special it is.

Review date: 15 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Tim Harding
Reviewed at: Hoots @ Potterow