Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

The first time I saw this show… well I didn’t see it at all, thanks to some appalling seating that afforded zero view of the stage. 

Reuben Solo’s such a tricksy comedian you wouldn’t entirely put it past him to do something like that deliberately – he was, after all, the comic who pressed the golden buzzer for himself on America’s Got Talent last year to a deafening chorus of boos from the crowd.  But the seating snafu was, in fact, nothing more than poor venue management and an issue that was  subsequently fixed. So on with the review proper… 

Performing with a GoPro strapped to his head – no reason – Solo asserts from the start that we can’t trust him, a statement that’s paradoxically proved to be entirely true, with a mind-reading trick that’s not all it seems. 

From that point on, he undermines what little trust remains at every opportunity. But it’s only fair since he doesn’t trust the audience either, as the title attests. An early bit of nonsense is aimed at establishing dominance, to put us in our place.

The Australian comedian has become known for challenging the conventional wisdom of what a show is, and there’s more of that on display in this tremendously meta performance. 

An audible inner monologue offers a running commentary on the gig, which has an air of orchestrated chaos, blurring the lines between what missteps are genuine and which are fake. He also seems at peace with a couple of sections that really struggle, including a dumb improvised story no one bought. 

There are echoes of Sam Campbell in his surreal snippets, but he owes a great deal more to Stamptown, with the show a constant fight with his trigger-happy tech on the soundboard, dropping gunshot effects and snatches of tunes into the set, forcing Solo to stop to address them. Plenty of freeform knockabout fun comes from this, but at the expense of momentum.

Extensive audience interaction adds to the genuinely spontaneous moments. The crowd started a little slow on the uptake, but by the end one willing participant is taking part in a full-on fight scene on stage.

Given Solo’s commitment to mucking about with the form of stand-up, this is the sort of show to elicit reactions of: ‘What the hell just happened?’ – but with laughs. He doesn't sacrifice funny on the altar of contrarianism.  

Review date: 26 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Just The Tonic at The Caves