Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Chris Laker has the air of a movie character – but not a good one. He fits the sad stereotype of a man who starts doing open-mic comedy because his life’s not going to plan, but whose gigs become a mirthless dirge. 

He talks about being a divorced, dope-smoking man who’s never held down a job - and if stand-up had HR, he’d probably be fired from this one, too, given the lack of effort he brings to his joke-writing. He doesn’t turn his eeyorish outlook into bitter punchlines, he just grumbles about his life. 

So it comes as a surprise to learn, after the gig, that the New York-based comic has some pretty prestigious credits back home, including The Late Late Show with James Corden and Jimmy Kimmel Live. 

Not that it has won him any following in Edinburgh. Tonight his audience is in single figures, which may well explain his resigned ‘let’s just plough though this’ attitude. When about halfway in one man loudly but only semi-coherently demands to know whether Laker had been to Woodstock ’99 – even though the comic had not been talking about festivals, music or anything even vaguely related – the feeling of this being a long hour intensified on both sides of the mic.

The alleged theme of bullying is only casually touched upon. When Laker was a teenager, a girl accused him of bullying her, though we don’t get muc sense of what this was all about beyond that basic sentence. And he recalls being set on by a group of lads, but there’s nothing amusing in his retelling.

Similarly, the fact that a= a over-demanding Martin Scorsese sacked him from a movie set just for being in his eyeline seems like nothing but an extended namedrop. It’s typical of routines that go nowhere, from becoming a Christian after watching comic Steve Harvey talk about Jesus in online videos, to mentions of his Catholic education that make vague allusions to paedophilia but don’t approach any real anecdote or joke.

Laker says he’s now happy with his girlfriend, but he doesn’t let anything his dour demeanour show it. She did call 911 when he passed out on drugs, so maybe she is a keeper.

He seems like a man who’s drifted through life doing a lot of things without acquiring experience from any of them. The same applies to his comedy: he’s technically doing it, but to a bare minimum standard and with no attachment – let alone love – for his material or his audience. 

• Chris Laker: Bully is at Just The Tonic at The Caves at 7.45pm

Review date: 27 Aug 2022
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Just The Tonic at The Caves