Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Dead parent shows have become such a Fringe cliché that if a comedian’s going to do one, they’d better make damn sure it’s something special. Luckily for his audiences, Andrew White has.

Rather than tugging too firmly on the heartstrings, What A Life! has a joyous, celebratory tone – hailing the personality and achievements not only of his mother, but his grandfather, who was once an Army musician, and his friend and fellow comedian Gareth Richards, who died after a car crash two years ago at the age of 43. Death, like elements of all the best jokes, really does come in threes.

As he describes these people dear to him, White strikes the perfect balance between sincerity and puncturing it. He has a compulsive need to take the mickey – out of himself as much as others – which especially manifests itself in being cheeky about his ‘mental’ mother, coming from a clear sense of love. 

She was a lawyer – headstrong, fun-loving, but unable to tell a joke. White’s inherited two out of three of those traits, pursuing petty grievances such as parking tickets with an unhinged doggedness while bringing an endearing impishness to his compelling delivery. 

A successful line of self-deprecation revolves around his precociousness as a child, something of a diva with Noel Coward-like pretensions, prone to making the oddest of friends. Even in adulthood, White forms an unlikely bond with an actual jester, who becomes a running character across the hour. In fact, all the story strands interweave skilfully here, allowing for some unexpected callbacks that emerge without being forced, and to powerful comic effect. 

His mum’s cancer was patently a tough time, but she – and he – chose to respond with laughter at the grim absurdity of it all. White’s grandfather is a less dominant presence in the show, but demonstrates that performing is in the family DNA – even if the older man ended his band performances with the sort of glib faux sincerity that his grandson is keen to sidestep.

Talking about Richards comes with more genuine emotion, decades of opportunities denied to his friend just as he was finding himself in the happiest place he’d ever been. Even so, White can’t help but gently roast him for being a musical comedian. Ugh. 

White’s default is to be withering, occasionally tipping into camp, as he slates everything from charlatan funeral celebrants – which he does frivolously but with the same relentless intent with which he’ll challenge a fixed penalty notice –  to more ominous topics such as gay conversion therapy. On whatever subject, the passion is genuine.

Despite White’s aversion to too much schmaltz, emotions naturally crescendo towards the end of the show, but each moment of sentimentality is knocked back with a gag. White’s stand-out skill is ensuring this yin-and-yang stays in harmony, with neither the serious side nor the flippant side overwhelming the other. Instead, they reinforce, creating an hour of hard, life-affirming laughs from a place of real heart.

• Andrew White: What a Life! is on at 17:45 at Monkey Barrel Comedy (Cabaret Voltaire) during the Edinburgh Fringe

Review date: 6 Aug 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Monkey Barrel Comedy (Cabaret Voltaire)