Review by Paul Fleckney

Over from Northern Ireland to make his debut is Shane Todd, a fledgling comic with a nice line in self-deprecation. He’s a slight man with a slight style, and despite this being a show with plenty of fat on it, I think he left the audience feeling warmly disposed to him.

The premise behind Holywood to Hollywood is Todd’s ambition to turn on the Christmas lights in his tiny home town of Holywood. He is, he reckons, a bigger star than the last guy who did it, who accidentally appeared in an advert once. To do this, he travels to Hollywood, to try to make it big.

It could almost be the premise for a sitcom, so steeped it is in Britishness irony and underdoggery. Todd makes a decent enough stab at turning this into a full Edinburgh show. His willingness to portray himself as the idiot or weakling is his main comic weapon, and he wields it well, especially when he recalls being a boy and castigating his hard-working dad for not earning enough money. His recurring joke about being constantly thwarted by minor health ailments is also used just often enough (showing good judgment on Todd’s part).

It’s quite inefficient progress through the show, though. Too many of the diversions are either unsatisfactory or a bit pointless. One, about his accent bringing a fast food restaurant in LA to a standstill goes on far too long considering there is no payoff. Another, about some boys he knows back home all with nicknames that refer to their necks, is of no interest and adds nothing to the show.

The whole thing comes to a nice climax, although Todd’s under-statement prevents him from selling it bigger, which is what it merits. Considering the show includes a weak drug anecdote, it seems a waste to neglect the ending as he does.

Todd is a very pleasurable comic to be in the company of for an hour. His show isn’t one to stick in the brain, but there are some very clear flashes of comic talent.

Review date: 12 Aug 2016
Reviewed by: Paul Fleckney
Reviewed at: Gilded Balloon Teviot