Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

In his Fringe debut, Darran Griffiths shares an intimate story that touches on several serious subjects with charm and good humour. 

Following in the footsteps of comedians like Rhod Gilbert, Inconceivable takes on the sensitive topic of male infertility and IVF, from the comic ignominy of donating sperm samples to life-or-death conversations with his wife that nobody ever wants to have.

He prefaces this with a bulletproof club-style set, quick with the punchlines and delivered with personable charm, which sets out who he is, having emerged from an overwhelmingly white working-class culture in Essex to now being settled into a comfortable middle-class life.

It’s punchy but playful stuff, occasionally touching on issues of race that can’t be ignored – from the uncle sure Griffiths would end up marrying a white woman (he didn’t) to the ultra-woke white girl he dated who was tiresomely over-keen to demonstrate she wasn’t racist. The issue even encroaches on his central narrative, as he points out medical papers that were so focussed on the white perspective, the very idea that a patient may not be caucasian is a literal footnote.

Notions of masculinity also underpin the story, with the comedian instinctively defensive when he’s told his sperm might be no Michael Phelps when it comes to swimming ability. Sexual potency is so engrained in the male psyche, it’s refreshing – and valuable – to hear someone speaking about it with such honesty and good humour.

As the story gets increasingly weighty and the stakes increasingly high, the laughs subside – though Griffiths will bring things back with a tension-relieving line every now and again. But there remains an issue of pace in the slower back half of the show, as well as the fact he essentially gave away the ending in the preamble. It strains his talents as a compelling storyteller, though he remains ever-listenable. 

• Darran Griffiths: Inconceivable is on at Pleasance Courtyard at 4.45pm

Review date: 4 Aug 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett