Brighton Fringe comedy review

An Israeli comic based in Berlin, Nir Gottleid describes himself as ‘one of the darkest comics’ in Europe, and sells his show about ageing by promising – threatening? –  that ‘you'll want to die’.

Indeed, Middle Rage has a content warning that’s almost as long as the show blurb, as audiences are alerted to the fact the comic will talk about his depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and the booze, drugs and junk food he abuses to self-medicate. 

Yet although he’s a self-loathing stoner with a history of dating traumatised people, Gottleid is surprisingly buoyant when he starts describing  the pain and bitterness racked up in his 42 years on earth. Perhaps surprisingly, given his billing, he’s a personable chap and has a command of the traditional pace, rhythms and tightly written gags of stand-up that assure you that you’re in capable hands. Even with a smallish and relatively reticent audience, he can get a conversation going. 

After a few quick gags – just as likely to be slagging off younger people for their hope and prospects as making light of his own misery – he settles into the story of his life and its many problems. 

Here things get more serious. Even though he’s well short of making the mood too bleak, the tone is more earnest, occasionally tipping into TED Talk territory, and the jokes become more spaced out. Although every one remains a welcome respite that keeps the darkness out.

A brief interlude offers some good – by which I mean appalling – jokes about the Holocaust from his previous show, which display a flair for gags that make you wince and laugh in equal measure. But when it comes to direct issues about his current life, Gottleid, seeks to explain and explore as much as he going straight for the laughs. 

Nonetheless the punchlines, when they come, demonstrate a solid comic practitioner who holds the room with the honest with which he discusses his myriad issues.

• Middle Rage: An Engaging Comedy Staging About Aging and Raging is back at Laughing Horse @ The Temple Bar, Brighton, at 4.45pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Review date: 1 Jun 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett