Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Joshua Robertson’s sweet and often filthy show is billed as kind of a confessional, purporting to 'explore the ups and downs of being a disabled dad' and 'shed a unique light on daily life through a once able-bodied person’s eyes'.

These blurbs are often written long before work starts on writing the actual show, so no shade should be cast for deviating from the plan, but Robertson’s show is interesting in that it’s almost a spoof of the show he initially pitched.

Enable Me instead plays out as a kind of bawdy farce. After Robertson’s wife invites another man into their bedroom, the couple are set on a series of twists and turns involving mothers-in-law and sex dungeons that have more in common with a kind of tavern story. I’m a pretty gullible person, but it didn’t have the ring of truth to me.

His opening material comes from a more familiar place. Robertson is profoundly disabled following a motorbike crash when he was 11 years old that left him in a coma for more than four months, and a lot of his club material brings to mind early Rosie Jones or Lost Voice Guy – riffs on life as a disabled person that challenge the audience’s expectations while getting them comfortable with laughing at jokes that no one else could make. 

This material is often broad, and the dick jokes not as creative as they might be, but his impact is generally greater the harder he goes. His interactions with a game audience member are a clear highlight. 'Robbie, does your mum wank you off? I would recommend it.'

His open, appealing performance style and lack of guile let him get away with questions and interactions that would be hair-raising for anyone else.
As for the rest of it, you can’t help feeling it would have more impact if there was a greater sense of realism to the narrative, but it’s peppered with fun lines throughout, and Robertson deserves credit for following his muse rather than giving people the show they might think they want.

Review date: 14 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Tim Harding
Reviewed at: Laughing Horse @ Bar 50