Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Housed in Assembly Studio 4, the traditional venue for slightly underwhelming Australasian imports, Jack Ansett faces a mild incline that he doesn’t quite manage to propel himself over. As an alumnus of Taskmaster NZ’s sixth series, he has enough fans in the UK to warrant his first trip to Edinburgh, but hasn’t brought enough of his A-game to stand out from the pack.

Young, male and affecting a little gawkiness with a rasping voice, he brings Sam Campbell to mind, and even operates in a similar space, at his most comfortable when perpetrating whimsical goofs. 

However, Ansett’s goofs often lack a certain spark, and are aimed primarily at members of the public and people he interacts with on Facebook, usually generating an understandable annoyance.

 It’s not exactly punching down to pretend to some guy on Gumtree that you want to move into the greenhouse he’s selling, but you need a little more escalation than just showing the message where he tells you to piss off. Lou Wall made it their greatest routine by turning it into a literal opera – Ansett’s approach feels underbaked in comparison.

The show is not super-tight conceptually – nor is it intended to be – so the closest thing to a throughline is Ansett’s running gag of replicating people in The Sims 4, usually included as a topper in which he photographs his avatars in compromising situations. 

His funny ‘calling the register’ bit makes heavy use of this trick; it’s an extended prank he plays on his audience which you could call his signature routine, but it’s ultimately kneecapped by the UK’s GDPR rules. I’m surprised it’s allowed anywhere to be honest, as it involves breaches of data security that would make anyone reconsider their online privacy settings. In the UK you have to voluntarily submit your details in order to be pranked, which takes some of the fun out of it.

Similarly, his account of entering a children’s triathlon as a grown man is an amusing idea, but doesn’t really build to anything. It’s presented as a bit of a gotcha, but you look at the photos of Ansett jogging around with a bunch of 17-year-olds and think to yourself yeah, I can see why they made that mistake. Ansett is only in his mid-twenties, and very young-looking.

The show ends before 40 minutes, which is not exactly a complaint, but is indicative of a show where a handful of good ideas are not developed to their fullest extent.

Review date: 18 Aug 2026
Reviewed by: Tim Harding
Reviewed at: Assembly George Square