Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

When Jazz Emu was last at the Fringe, his vibe was that of an awkward nerd, shut away in his bedroom away from human contact and making online songs and videos as he dreamt of fame. Well, welcome to 2022 when that’s been every performer’s life for the past two years.

So this time around, the premise is that he did make it big, but blew it – or got cancelled – after upsetting the goblin community at a mega-gig in Helsinki. Can he make amends and get himself accepted back into the public’s hearts?

There’s also a second strand of jeopardy, for some reason, with his father threatening to cut him off financially if he doesn’t stop indulging his pop-star ambitions and join him in the family foley business – you know, the people who make movie sound-effects. And wouldn’t you know it, the deadline for him to do that precisely coincides with the time this show is supposed to end. What are the chances?

The convoluted plot contributes only a little to the laughs, including a silly and inventive audiovisual gag on a FaceTime conversation Jazz has with Emu Sr. But no matter, because what we are here for is the music. Archie Henderson – the creator of this act – has carved out a distinctive niche in the musical comedy field by concentrating on the genre of Seventies-inspired electrofunk that’s largely been left untouched by the rest of the parody industry.

He takes to the stage with a nod to a more contemporary act, Daft Punk, but struggles with the helmet. For he’s a strong physical comedian, too, as evidenced in his amusingly strange and angular choreography from the robot and beyond. And he adopts a deep, serious, pseudo-sexy voice at odds with the often mundane topics he sings about, from the mysteries of the dials inside fridges to the world-expanding marvel that was MSN Messenger.

Yes, there’s a touch of the Flight Of The Conchords in such juxtaposition of the everyday with the supposedly glamorous world of pop, but Jazz Emu is very much his own strange artist. 

Peculiar songs about everything from living in Miami (honestly) to the Funkbot 10000 here to save us all have videos, well-crafted and as distinctively stylised as the tracks. These combine with equally weird non-musical skits, including an absurd version of the Captcha tests to prove you’re not a robot, to his recollection of a fourth Rice Krispies mascot that haunts him like a bad trip.

With a visual and audio aesthetic all his own, Jazz Emu offers so many inventive, quirky ideas here that transcend the clunky narrative for a thoroughly entertaining hour in a world of his own making.

• Jazz Emu: You Shouldn't Have is on at Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose at 9.15pm

Review date: 13 Aug 2022
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Gilded Balloon Patter House