Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Is this really the end for Anna Mann, the ebullient thespian alter-ego of Colin Hoult? It seems like it might be - and probably at the right time too, especially in the hour-long format. For her swansong sees her hit many of the same comedy notes as before. And while still joyously funny – and a welcome return five years since her last outing – the risk of repeating herself seems real. 

Her cheerful crowd work is, of course, a delight, greeting every name, no matter how commonplace, with an incredulous: ‘Fuck off, I love it!’ This time around, she gives people enduring animal nicknames, such as ‘gibbon’ and coins a new catchphrase: ‘If you go, I will.’ Because her robust, jaunty stoicism is facing its biggest challenge yet: a doctor’s grim prognosis. 

Once the terms of the gig’s engagement are set, we hear more of her friend Sue Clench (‘she’s not well’) as well as being introduced to her daughter Mahogany, who’s very ‘whoke’, and big sister Jane, who has a crucial role in the semi-convincing backstory we are about to hear.

That involves a run-through of her many husbands – from the theatrical to the turgid to the all-action hero – and her patchy career ranging from the video nasty Cannibal Bagpipes (‘little ripple of recognition over there’) to several corpses in Holby. Hoult has an ear for a good comedy name as well as the rhythms of the luvvie anecdotes he’s so affectionately parodying.

Though played with a very light hand, the idea of Anna dying allows Hoult to explore the idea of grief and the lasting memories we can leave each other, in between the absurd reminiscences of her fictional life.

As Anna takes the final curtain call, the show veers off in an unpredictable direction – not for a glib payoff but for a touching conclusion, although not quite the one we’d been led to expect. Then, of course, it’s undercut with the perfect line to go out on a laugh. RIP, Anna.

• Colin Hoult: The Death Of Anna Mann is on at Pleasance Courtyard at 9.10pm

Review date: 10 Aug 2022
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Pleasance Courtyard