Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Stuart Goldsmith knows nobody wants to hear about the impending environmental catastrophe – and as an incurable people-pleaser, he doesn’t really want to talk about it either, lest he alienate his audience.

But the terrifying consequences of doing nothing have forced him to conclude he has to address the endangered elephant in the room, even though he’s neither scientist nor activist. What he is, however, is an excellent communicator, personable and witty, and here he achieves his aim of getting people to think, if just for a little bit, about the consequences of their actions. 

However, while he’s keen to ensure Spoilers is not a sermon or a lecture – especially because he hasn’t done enough research for the latter – it can’t help but feel a bit like we’re being preached to, even if it’s in a very agreeable, tolerant way.

Spoilers is, essentially, The Guilty Feminist but for the climate as Goldsmith encourages people who want to do the best for the planet to confess to eco-sins for which they can be absolved. Flew from London to Edinburgh because the trains are unreliable and more expensive? Forgiven. Stockpiling plastic straws? Forgiven. Spoilers has ‘podcast format’ written all over it, and as host of The Comedians’ Comedian, Goldsmith is already well-versed in the genre.

You may be thinking this all sounds very worthy, but where is the comedy? Well, there are gags - not recycled, I might add – and asides aplenty, while Goldsmith describes his mixed attempts to reduce his environmental impact.

Much of the humour comes from the comedian’s confessed ignorance of the topic he cares so much about and his general ineffectiveness in life. Except, that is, when he becomes a pernickety grass, dobbing in any infringement outside the safe space of this gig like a modern-day Martin Brice from Ever Decreasing Circles.

To offer some criticism in a similarly pedantic vein, the show is billed as being about the climate crisis but spends as much, if not more, time on other environmental concerns, such as microplastics in the sea. Glitter-lovers, that means you, too, have a confession to make. And maybe he’s a bit too keen to let people off the hook, laying all the carbon problems at the feet of fossil fuel giants by saying it’s an issue of production not consumption. But without the latter there would be no need for the former.

But he’s keen to be at least selectively tolerant, helping nudge the national conversation in the right direction. The same motive he ascribes to the likes of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion activists, even if they are more extreme. 

Such campaigners are so often demonised in the press as hypocrites for owning a car or buying a New Zealand wine. Goldsmith’s stance is that we all are, and bandying that accusation around is just a distraction from addressing the real issues. 

Addressing the steps we must take to combat climate change is usually described as a difficult conversation. The personable Goldsmith is making it just a little bit easier.

Review date: 22 Aug 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Monkey Barrel Comedy Club