Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Let’s start with the obvious. MC Hammersmith, West London’s poshest rapper, is an improvising comedy wizard. ‘How the hell did he do that?’ I hear one audience member say upon leaving the theatre. And it’s true: his linguistic gymnastics are sure to leave just about anyone in awe – it is no surprise that he has more than 500 million views on social media. 

But do his skills manage to keep a crowd amazed for the hour’s entirety? Well, not exactly.

Unfortunately for Hammersmith, once we see him create raps on the spot, the novelty starts to wear thin. Still, the audience keeps up the momentum by raising their hands to suggest words like ‘trousers’ for him to riff off. 

Over the course of his show, he creates raps from crowd suggestions, games projected onto a big screen and audience interactions. Everything is genuinely, gasp-inducingly impressive, even when the pace of the show inevitably dips.

We meet Hammersmith as he embarks on a quest to find his biological family. The story goes that when he was 18, his parents, MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, shockingly revealed that he was adopted. And so, we’re here on the hunt, using the only skill Hammersmith has: freestyle rap. It is a very loose structure, mentioned here and there rather than something that ties the whole show together. Still, Hammersmith gets a neat ending out of it.

Supported by his butler Murphy and three backup dancing birds, this is certainly the most upper-class rap show in town. Hammersmith has got the dweeby posh-boy persona – who is forever 19 – down to a T. And, packaged with a high dose of autotune and a few Zoom calls with Snoop Dogg thrown in for good measure, it is a nice bit of afternoon fun.

It all makes Hammersmith perfect for the clippable, online world. Clearly, he is a rapid-fire, mind-boggling talent and he does not miss a beat. Would I rather have the option to scroll on after watching one or two of his routines, though? Quite probably.

Review date: 25 Aug 2026
Reviewed by: Anya Ryan
Reviewed at: Assembly George Square