Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

For more than 20 years comedy clubs have used Eminem’s motivational underdog anthem Lose Yourself as walk-on music to pump up audiences with its pounding instrumentation and promise that just one moment on stage could make a performer a superstar.

When Phil Ellis uses it, it seems sarcastic.

Reviewers, myself included, have always picked up on none-too-subtle clues that the comic might not be doing too well, what with living in a house-share well into his 40s. But Ellis believes he’s doing alright, so is swapping the self-deprecation for some rap-style swagger to get that across. He’s even bought his own hype man, MC Swags (a largely expressionless Tom Short) to push the message. Swags also interjects the occasional unplanned sound cue across the hours to keep Ellis on his toes.

Needless to say, the self-deluded notion that the comedian thinks he’s winning – now out of the house-share and in his own spartan one-room flat – only makes the boasting all the funnier. 

Not that Ellis takes himself seriously for one second. The absurdity of his life – all our lives – as well as the whole showbusiness conceit is constantly sent up. Last year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee uses all the trappings of performance and showmanship available to him… but deploys them in the service of seeing who in the room has racked up the most impressive roadkill.

Viral crowd-work videos are mocled in a way that might mean a lifetime ban from Liverpool’s Hot Water comedy club, while he offers his version of the 40-minute ‘sad bit’ cliché of Edinburgh shows, with a genuinely tragic story treated ridiculously flippantly.

He chucks everything into the mix - songs, guest stars, unrelatable observational comedy about how he can’t even get off a bus without making it weird… all delivered in what’s a slight parody of old-school variety comperes, albeit a fond one. 

For entertainment is in his blood, and the fact he uses that impulse – and some excellent jokes – to elevate the oddest, most mundane parts of his life to building blocks of this ridiculous carnival ensures another yet hour of giddy fun.

Review date: 7 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Monkey Barrel Comedy Club