Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Bearish and cuddly, Raj Poojara arrives at the Pleasance with a debut hour that passes the time pleasantly enough, but is unlikely to lodge in the memory. 

Comedy is a relatively recent development for him, and sounds like it accompanied a number of other changes in his circumstances. He mentions that a few years ago he weighed 140kg (22 stone), worked in wealth management for footballers and had his own place. 

Now he’s down 40 kilos, turned to stand-up and moved back in with his parents. I don’t know what he was like before, and he doesn’t really explain what led to this change in lifestyle, but he seems happy now.

Poojara’s single concession to Fringe-style theatrics is a large plastic die which he references twice, once at the beginning and once at the end, and which symbolises the fact that when you make a major life decision, it’s a roll of the dice? It’s not the most ornate metaphor in the world, and hardly needed when this is clearly just a straight stand-up show.

It sounds like he has an interesting family history – his parents were Ugandan Indians who had to flee when Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of all ‘Asians’ from the country – but chooses not to make anything of it for this show, sticking instead to material on dating, religion and his culture, which ends up feeling a little repetitive.

In the back half he shifts into a more anecdotal mode which suits him much better. His observational material might not be the freshest, but he did once go blind in one eye because a woman threw a creme egg at him, and that’s not a story that anyone else at the Fringe can claim.

If all that sounds noncommittal, it’s worth saying that Poojara is good company, with a lovely warmth and lightness of touch. The show never feels like a chore, but neither does it stand out in a festival context.

Review date: 28 Aug 2026
Reviewed by: Tim Harding
Reviewed at: Pleasance Courtyard