Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Among all the hundreds of disclosures of mental and neurological health diagnoses across the Fringe, Dean Coughlin still manages to make an unusual one. 

The Liverpudlian comic has aphantasia, meaning he’s unable to generate imagery in his mind, a condition which he describes as ‘having no imagination,’ although that’s probably comedic shorthand, as is his claim that he caught it when he fell out of a tree and it ‘smashed all the images out of my head’.

He also suffers from depression, but only mentions it to dispel the idea that his show might address it in any way. Oblivious Sausage is just intended as an hour of jokes.

The only minor structural innovation here is to let three ‘directors’ from the audience choose the running order of the show from a list of routines that he provides. Twelve tight fives in a row takes us neatly to 60 minutes and that’s your lot.

The interaction helps get the Saturday-night audience on side but it has its obvious drawbacks as well. You never realise how important segues are until you remove your ability to make them, and have to end every single routine by saying ‘Well, that’s [TOPIC X] over with. I guess we’ll move on to [TOPIC Y]’

The routines themselves are efficient, workmanlike, a little bland. Coughlin, one of the Fringe debutants chosen as a Chortle Hotshot this year, has a love of wordplay and a club comic’s preoccupation with paedophile jokes that wears out its welcome after a while. His most laboured puns tend to be the most entertaining ones.

Once or twice he indicates the availability of more ‘spicy’ material and, when the invitation is accepted, will do a bit about Madeline McCann or something similar, which definitely helps wake you up a bit.

Throughout the hour, he peppers in a number of unusually strong one liners (my favourite: ‘He does a great Buzz Lightyear impression. He can’t really do the voice but he goes stiff when the kids come in.’) and wears his previous nominations for joke of the fringe as badges of honour, as well he should. 

In the context of an hour, though, these peaks become invisible in the fog – the Fringe show is just not a format he’s particularly suited for.

Review date: 20 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Tim Harding
Reviewed at: Just The Tonic Subway