Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

It’s apt, but the amiable Matt Hobs’ show about space travel hasn’t got much weight. It’s an enjoyable and interesting orbit of some of the stories surrounding Nasa’s Apollo programme, but all very superficial. 

He offers titbits in place of a compelling story of humanity’s great achievement which, when occasionally undermined by cheap puns and dad jokes, make the show feel unfocussed.

Those nuggets of trivia are often fascinating – that Neil Armstrong and the rest of the Apollo 11 crew had to go through customs after splashdown, for instance, or the weirdly creepy passage one astronaut wrote about the possibility of women in space. Imagine!

But there’s no feeling of a solid narrative thread running through this, either a true one (the story is so good, so why not stick to it?) or a comedy one of whatever angle that could be spun from the moon landings. Hobs even takes a couple of minutes to muse on belly button bacteria, which is definitely looking for material in the wrong place.

However, he’s clearly done the research into the actual topic in hand, and he’s a very affable guide through his offbeat findings. Maybe he’s pitching for a job as a QI elf? They could do a lot worse.

He has a PhD and still loves science, which comes across in a delivery full of geeky positivity. He even has iced water on hand should the room get too hot, and that welcome Bristolian nice-guy vibe pervades a game-show style segment that conveys a few more quirky facts.

Those nuggets and his affability ensure Moonshot is always engaging, but he lacks the ambition to build on these great basics. Astronerds will get an itch scratched here, but it feels like a missed opportunity for a much more ambitious moonshot.

Review date: 16 Aug 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Laughing Horse @ 32 Below