Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

A sleazy, toxic edgelord with ‘ironically’ sexist, racist and homophobic material, Martin Urbano revels in being an unapologetic comedian… who now has to make an apology as there are career-threatening #MeToo allegations to be addressed.

Not the real Urbano, we should add, but the character of ‘Martin Urbano’ that the New York-based comic adopts in this daring and playful show, making jokes in the grey area of dubious taste but managing to keep the intention clear, unlike many real-life colleagues.

His ‘saying the unsayable’ includes such a lengthy volley of jokes suggesting that he might be a predator sexually attracted to children that it earned him the nickname ‘The paedophile comedian’, while other lines are horribly reductive towards women.

Two things rescue them. One, they are great jokes, on a purely technical level, while playing with the notion of what shouldn’t be said. Two, the target is always so very unambiguously his ignorance.

Urbano starts the show with some distinctive stand-up to display his talents. Each chunk begins with a hack set-up. ‘What’s the deal with chatty Uber drivers?’, ‘Don’t you hate babies on aircraft?’ ‘It’s hard being on the dating apps…’ ‘Give me a cheer if you know what an airport is!’ 

They sound like the lead-in to Neil Hamburger jokes, but where Gregg Turkington’s grimy alter-ego always drags the gags into the sewer, Urbano offers genuinely decent stand-up routines that take a sharp detour from the anticipated path. His celebrity impressions are a stand-out in a crowded field of excellence.

Sometimes, he lets the persona crack, laughing just enough at his own trite premises to underline the fact we’re not supposed to take him seriously. He has a marvellously expressive face – certainly the best eye action I’ve seen this Fringe – which helps heighten a gently animated performance.

That’s crucial when it comes to the crux of the show, which walks a high-wire act on the hot-button issues of offence in comedy.
For ‘Martin Urbano’ has to get earnest with us to address those troubling accusations about his personal conduct. It’s a perfect parody of those carefully phrased damage-limitation not-quite apologies that skirt around culpability and proper remorse in an attempt to salvage a doomed career.  

Basically, Urbano is doing Louis CK’s material.

Then comes the edgy content, with the Mexican-American comic insisting he’s a ‘good guy’ as he says bad things. He smartly raises questions about how robust a defence ‘irony’ can be if your work is loved by the very people you claim to be parodying.

This is a very skilfully put-together hour that, against the accepted wisdom, is always punching down. Down at the lesser comedians who pretend they’re being transgressive when they’re just being bullies who go along with the crowd.

Review date: 24 Aug 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Pleasance Courtyard