Jay Richardson reviews the up-and-coming Welsh stand-up's fourth solo show.
Invariably a pleasure to spend time with, Elis James’ default affability can blunt the incredulity and pique of his anecdotes, which would matter less if they contained a punchier laugh rate and were less flimsily connected. He opens by heaving something heavy off his chest: the perfect storm he endured at last year’s festival when his parents, critics and 25 Glasgow Rangers fans on a stag do all chose to take in the same show, with predictably disastrous results. Although there are some winning details in the story, capably told, he can’t quite suppress the feeling that he has genuinely sacrificed his show’s introduction for the sake of petty, impotent point-scoring.
With a habit of attracting the unhinged – mugged on a trip to Cardiff by kids; passive-aggressively serenaded by teenage girls on the train to his native Carmarthen – James’ world was turned upside down in June. Rumours that One Direction’s Harry Styles was dating a girl named Elle led to a siege of his Twitter account by the band’s distraught, illiterate fans. Recounting the episode with wry bemusement, he’s the milk of human kindness and compassion until a tweet too far puts him on the offensive, twisting the situation to his own advantage. Although amusingly recalled, it doesn’t quite feel as if he capitalised enough on the incident’s potential.
At 31, he’s prey to the affliction of arrested development that dogs many relatively newish stand-ups, which he neatly coins as “adult imposter syndrome”. After moving in with his more mature girlfriend, he’d like to earn more money as a crowd-pleasing observational comic. But he’s too settled, his career-crucial capacity to fuck up blunted by his happiness. That transition is one that James still seems to be processing, with only the threat to his passionate hoarding instinct eliciting a really strong outburst about the erosion of his memories.
Jay Richardson
Elis James: Speaking As a Mother... is at the Pleasance Courtyard at 7pm until 27th August.
Read more Edinburgh Fringe reviews
Add an event
Scoping Out London’s Coolest Historic Bingo Halls
London’s bingo halls were once a bustling part of many of the city’s communities, but as...