Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Don’t you dare call Roger Prick a pornographer. He’s an ‘erotic novelist’ now, because of woke.

The celebrity Casanova started peddling his filthy fiction in the 1970s, but he’s got a new publisher, trying to nudge him into the 21st century.

Delightfully, Han Whyte’s alter ego – a vision in biroed-on sideburns – is trying his best to shed some of his misogynistic past, even if his efforts misfire. But allowing him to want to be both randy and respectable is a more layered comedy creation than were he simply an unreconstructed boor, out of his time.

Nor is Prick just the novelist behind such titles as Guy Blokeman And The Spectacular Knockers, he’s also a poet, even if his verses tend to start: ‘There was a young lady…’ 

With this loveable rogue, Whyte gets to have her cake and eat it. The character can crack some outrageously blunt double entendre that wouldn’t be too out of place on an ancient seaside postcard – only to correct himself and offer a twist on the gag reflecting more enlightened attitudes to consent and gender.

The charge that he is something of a one-joke character could stick, although there are plenty of variations on the theme, and the creation is fleshed out with biographical details. And you can catch a whiff of Soho’s hedonistic heyday as he speaks of the various erotic emporia he’s run in the central London district which has itself transformed from sleazy to reputable. 

In his reveries, Prick also remembers his late girlfriend, Grizelda – a feminist, both creating a classic forbidden romance and a relationship that explains his willingness to change now. His attempt to contact her via ouija board and audience participation feels like a needless bolt-on, however.

The show has a bold black-and-white aesthetic, from Prick’s suit to the covers of his books, which adds class – just the sort of veneer the smutmonger would appreciate.

Review date: 16 Aug 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Underbelly Cowgate