Simon Evans presents: Alas Smith and Hume!
Simon Evans presents: Footnotes to Smith
I’VE been going to see Fringe stalwart Simon Evans for years but these are totally different propositions to his usual stand-up shows.
Both are more academic lectures than comedy shows, though there are sufficient trademark Evans barbs and gags for both to be funny throughout.
Evans is the host of Radio 4’S Simon Evans Goes To Market and the creator of Jokenomics and Economedy, and the first show looks at the relationship between Adam Smith, “The Father of Economic Theory”, and his fellow philosopher David Hume.
Evans examines the effect they had on each other and on the world today, in the course of which he becomes probably the first commentator to liken the relative importance of Smith and Hume’s works to that of the merits of the differing interpretations Mr Tambourine Man as recorded by Bob Dylan and The Byrds.
The second show then expands on the 250-year legacy of Smith, arguing that he’s the most influential thinker as regards the modern world we live in.
Did “The Sage of Kirkcaldy”, for example, anticipate the ubiquity of Facebook?
Evans’s theory is that the Scottish Enlightenment was the hinge point for “how the Scots created the modern world”.
The venue is superbly fitting as Panmure House, on the Royal Mile, is the last house in which Smith lived, though as Evans says it’s not to be confused with “Manure House, which is just down the road”.
Told you the lectures were funny.
Panmure House is also quite the poshest venue I’ve ever attended in my 20-odd years of Fringe-going, which also seems fitting for Evans, resplendent in tweed and with the delivery of an Oxbridge don, albeit one with a sharp line in cheeky wit.
There’s a reasonable amount of crossover between the two, if you go to both you’ll recognise a couple of gags for example, but if you fancy a Scottish Enlightenment-themed show – and let’s face it, who doesn’t? – each is a treat in itself.
Simon Evans presents: Alas, Smith And Hume!, 13,25, Panmure House, until August 25
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/simon-evans-presents-alas-smith-and-hume
Simon Evans presents: Footnotes To Smith, 18.30, Panmure House, until August 25
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/simon-evans-presents-footnotes-to-smith
