Review by Steve Bennett

This is a strange, scrappy and offbeat late-night show, but Mr Harris has a magnetic energy that draws you to his weird world, however patchy the gags.

He was a writer on Shooting Stars, and as he dons facial features made out of egg boxes, before presenting a menu of distinctly unsavoury dishes, you can certainly see the shared sense of humour with Vic and Bob. He wrote on Have I Got News For You, too, but don’t go expecting insightful political jokes about how Ed Miliband looks like Wallace.

The show comprises a dozen or show mini-routines, which Mr Harris – Ben to his friends – jumbles up by having audience members draw ping-pong balls from a hat, each with a one-word heading. It’s well past midnight, so there’s a frisky banter, but he takes it all in his stride, getting a couple of running jokes from the interjections. He’ll also get up-close and personal with a couple of marks, or recruit them for some basic stage tasks, but always in good spirits.

Some of the routines from the balls are brief bits of quirky stand-up, the occasional one-liner, a section of deliberately poor poetry. Others are more involved set pieces, which he seems to enjoy more – although the ever-shifting pace is a bonus, since sustaining a joke can be a problem. There’s a long gag involving fruit, for instance, which doesn’t quite come off in the execution but is an ingenious set-up.

That’s typical of the show that never quite catches fire, but features plenty of sparks of invention. And sometimes oddnesses are introduced and dispatched quickly, such as Richard the spectacle-wearing suffered dog that Harris brings on stage, but then largely leaves in the custody of others.

Whatever he’s doing, Harris successfully treads the line between presenting the zany while remaining something close to approachable. He is another one of the sprawling Weirdo’s collective spreading absurdist comedy across Edinburgh this month, and although he hasn’t the same profile as some of his colleagues, he certainly has the same sensibilities.

Review date: 15 Aug 2014
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Laughing Horse @ The Counting House