Ed Night does not want to let the audience off the hook; the show exists in the half-space between comic and crowd, and he reminds you of this fact. His wits sizzle, his observations are astute, and he comes at you at a lightning pace – you have to pay attention to keep up. If you don’t, you miss a certain callback, he’ll pull you up. Even though his show is light on the crowd work in the traditional sense, it’s clear he feeds off the audience’s energy and laughs; he’ll use the force of your chuckles and ride it into bit after bit at a startling speed.
His quips draw from the esoteric and obscure as much as they draw from the commonplace and relatable, covering everything from Skyrim to Stalin’s Five-Year Plan – they’re darkly ingenious, and you’ll be hard pressed to not have at least one of them fly over your head. Occasionally, however, he’ll throw something out there which isn’t quite as clever as the rest of his material, or simply does not quite stick.
He improvises and shifts course quickly, however, and he rarely allows his momentum to stall; his deadpan, cheeky delivery combined with the sheer quantity of laughs provided leave you in awe of a comic standing at the bleeding edge of what is possible. If you’re in need of a barrage of acerbic wit and a sneakily sharp turn of phrase, Ed Night can provide both in abundance.
Ed Night: The Plunge, 19.35, Monkey Barrel, until August 25