More than just a pretty boy then

comedy Parrot - God's Comic The Stand, Edinburgh 'I think I'm funnier than Tommy Cooper," boasts the beardy bloke in the designer suit. "I mean funnier than he is NOW!" A not so spurious claim given that, Tommy isn't telling too many gags these days.

Parrot's been away from the Scottish stand-up scene for three years, during which time he's managed to fit in a drink/drug induced nervous breakdown and rediscover God. If it all sounds rather heavy, worry not, the first half hour is actually peppered with what used to be called observational comedy. "This is a true story," he says, "apart from the funny bit at the end, which I made up."

Comedy-lite and he knows it. The message is enjoy the fluffy stuff because we'll all be begging for it by the time he gets onto going "fruit loops in la la land". A stand-up deconstructing his own material? It should not work of course, and yet somehow he carries it off.

Rodger Evans

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