Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

They actively want you to walk out, do Consignia. An anti-comedy collective, their offering at this year’s Fringe is described as ‘50 minutes of migraine’ and is wilfully inaccessible. 

Some of the show is rooted in a language of weirdness that hardcore absurdity fans might recognise, such as the oddball with a knitted polka dot hat, literal beer goggles and a saxophone who greets you at the door and asks you to choose between fun and safety. You could imagine Simon Munnery and Stewart Lee’s Cluub Zarathustra doing something similar back in the day.

Yet Consignia is also defined by its longueurs, minutes that drag by with absolutely no intention of offering anything vaguely entertaining or interesting. The initial premise is that we are stuck in a traffic jam and host Mark Dean Quinn loops a mind-numbing vocal track to persuade us of the fact. 

He tells the audience that if they hate this inactivity, they should cut their losses, as nothing amusing is likely to happen. It’s pitched as a war of attrition in which the only fun on offer is the look of bafflement on other audience members’ faces.

Yet uniquely funny things DO happen. The chap who greeted us on the door, Handsome Aaron, has fantastically funny bones, and his deadpan, surreal pseudo-motivational interjections are joyous.

Phil Jarvis is the third member of tonight’s trio and core to the varying line-ups that have gathered under the Consignia banner. He spends much of his time with his head in a bucket or a dog mask. He does reveal himself to apply Vicks to his face – way too much Vicks, in a comically tragic vignette that will stick with you. He also has a misfiring Jim Carrey impression, brilliantly off-target. 

Non-comedy of the sort that Consignia peddles can be an excuse for a lack of talent or confidence. But the three performers here are very funny, if they choose to be… the dare is that they will only choose to be on their terms.

Consignia, named after the failed corporate identity of the post-privatised Post Office, are the sort of act who would love a zero-star review more than a five. But they are truly too good for that, even if the pitfalls they set for themselves will always stop the moments of brilliance building up momentum.

But if you want the quintessential Fringe experience: bonkers, unique, memorable, surprising, sporadically brilliant, and entirely unmarketable, Consignia are your guys. I liked them, but any recommendation has to come with the disclaimer ‘not for everyone’ writ large.

• Consignia Present: Migrane are at the PBH Free Fringe at Banshee Labyrinth at 4.40pm at 10pm today.

Review date: 15 Aug 2021
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: PBH's Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth