Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Despite its rather catch-all refrain that this is a show about love, it's perhaps more accurate to say that Aaron Twitchen's return to the Fringe for the first time in five years is about love's rejection instead.

The comedian was dumped by his boyfriend shortly before the festival in particularly trying circumstances, so this is one of those scrambled-together hours with a fresh purpose jerry-rigged at the last minute.

Thus he's delegating some responsibility to his audience, with a board full of stand-up topics to choose from. After a time, he turns it into a game, with the random element reying on someone hooking the subject like fairground hoopla, almost literally throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. The omens don't appear great, however, when the sheer difficulty of the task ensures that no one can actually succeed.

No matter though, because one of Twitchen's other stated objectives for the hour is that, as a 'himbo', he's capable of being whatever he pleases, with images of him in various outfits apparently a discarded echo of his original show idea.

Growing up queer in rural Devon, the 38-year-old didn't see an awful lot of gay representation and so took it where he could find it in the subtext of Disney movies. There are strong issues with his parents alluded to here, but that, apparently, is also a whole other show.

Recently returned to the dating scene, he has internalised homophobia, or at least misandry, openly prioritising finding financial stability over love with a partner, while actively trying to shun the company of other gay men, lest they cramp his unique, special vibe.

His topic titles often tend to be oblique reflections of what Twitchen's routines are about. One entitled Up North was bookended with reflections upon his intimidating neighbour's tattoo, yet was principally about the difficulty of him asserting a tough masculinity when it needs to be reconciled with his overt campness. 

He does admit to a bonding hobby with his mother. The pair undertake Ghostwatch-style investigations of the paranormal, his scepticism informed by the familiar observation that spooky sightings tend to draw from a narrow band of representation, prompting his amusingly outré portrayal of a gay poltergeist. 

Twitchen also seeks role models in the animal kingdom, inviting the audience to guess the gayest of them all. Seemingly hoping to rile the Daily Mail all over again, after the paper published its flustered take on scientific research into the phenomenon, this bit allows him to segue relatively smoothly into a take-home appeal for greater tolerance.

Noting that the current monstering of the trans community is simply a re-run of prejudice experienced by gay people not so long ago, and protesting against the worst practices of conversion therapy, it's a heartfelt bit of polemic, light on jokes, that feels exactly like a bolted-on, serious bit to give an impression of structure and conclusion.

As such, Himbo remains a hodge-podge of compromises and underwritten work-in-progress, admirably cobbled together in the circumstances perhaps but no more than that.

Review date: 26 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Jay Richardson
Reviewed at: Gilded Balloon Patter House