Mat Ewins is a ridiculous man. Ridiculous, funny and clever in ways that make you want to put him on slow-motion to avoid missing out on his intense stream of tech-heavy ingenuity.
As we enter the room, we’re asked to log on to a website to help us get the most out of interactive elements of the show. The gag this leads to is as brief at is brilliant, and a classic example of how the mad (computer) scientist of comedy works: he puts an inordinate amount of labour into a short joke and has moved on to something even more inventive before we’ve had a chance to absorb the extent of what he’s done.
The show’s title relates to what he pretends are his attempts to make it big on TikTok, and much of this hysterical hour involves Ewins manically presenting little videos and subversive doodling with existing images. His quick-thinking tech (and girlfriend), Kate Palmer’s many contributions include activating responses to crowd work from a chatbot version of Ewins, and projecting onto the screen some made-up contributions to the show from real people in the audience (this critic included).
In this furnace of a room, the couple play with concepts of pranks with the kind of irreverence and originality we’ve come to expect from them, and this theme bleeds nicely into their take on revealing personal, emotional information.
There’s nobody else quite like Mat Ewins. Even his edfringe.com listing (in which his sub-categories are noted as “ventriloquism” and “flamenco”). It’s probably worth buying a ticket for two days in a row so you can be sure to catch everything. God, I love it.
Mat Ewins: Mr TikTok
21.15
Monkey Barrel 4
Until 27 Aug
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on#q=%22Mat%20Ewins%3A%20Mr%20TikTok%22
