Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

‘Take my wife… please.’ Stories and gripes about cohabitation are as old as stand-up itself, but established South African comic Devin Gray delivers a gold standard of the genre with his punchy, pacy Fringe debut about his relationship.

His wife is German, which unlocks clichés galore about efficiency, love of paperwork, and a very literal approach to life. There’s not a gag on this topic he won’t do.

Meanwhile, he falls into the laddish stereotype of being unromantic and inconsiderate. He’s happy with beer, his best mate and the Xbox, but just three words will strike fear into his soul: ‘Notice anything different?’

We all know that whatever follows will involve Gray putting his foot in it, especially given how anything he says in the marriage seems prone to misinterpretation. The familiarity of such arguments is key to his appeal.

So while How To Get Away With Marriage is not pushing into new territory, Gray attacks it with faultless confidence, pace and cadence - energetic, but to too much to overwhelm the audience crammed into a karaoke booth that passes as his Fringe venue. 

The hour is gag-heavy, never getting tied up in anything but the minimum explanation required to set up a punchline (that’s why he leans so heavily into German stereotypes) with unforced callbacks adding to the joke rate.

The domestic focus covers their lockdown dates, his inability to stick to a shopping list, rows over free-range chicken, her love of true-crime podcasts and a running thread about posting ephemera into a memory box to represent their marriage.  They are all rooted in the relatable with broad appeal – although the confusion over one particular grocery item is hilariously unique.

There’s a sting in the tail, too, which I won’t divulge here, but it’s just one meta-punchline for an hour that’s full of them.

Review date: 11 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Laughing Horse @ City Cafe