MC HAMMERSMITH

Title of Show: MC Hammersmith: The MC Stands For Middle Class

Will Nameh, aka MC Hammersmith, is back at the Fringe and his performance is as breathtaking as ever. If you’ve never seen him live or viewed his YouTube raps (100M hits and counting), you’re missing out.

Imagine Jacob Rees-Mogg on speed. This is comedy improv at its best, and fastest.  

These types of shows usually rely on several cast members feeding off each other, so storming a one-person improv gig takes some balls.

Hammersmith asks for random words and subjects from the audience and turns them instantly into gangsta-rap songs so quickly you want to scream “For f^∗ck’s sake take a breath”! God only knows how he will keep this up for the whole Fringe run. There’s not much of him and you feel that he lives and breathes off of pure adrenaline.

He has you on his side from the word “go” and there’s no letting up, as he somehow fits “Huw Edwards”, “antidisestablishmentarianism”, and “Immodium” seamlessly into his lyrical flow. It makes you wonder just how quickly his brain works. Not just because he finds the rhymes, but because it’s also fucking hilarious.

Perhaps the best part about the act is when the audience suggests challenging subjects for Hammersmith to rap about, smugly thinking they can somehow catch him out.  He’s way too smart for that. “Make up a rap about punching my mate in the side and breaking his ribs” and “Rap about how you’ll feel when your parents die” are all in a day’s work for Hammersmith. 

He rises to the challenge and you almost sense that he craves it.

He’s got this.

He’s quick-witted, funny, and very very clever. Not your average Tory-Boy that’s for sure.

STEPHEN MULLAN

Title of Show: Stephen Mullan: Rascal

The voice of Love Island Australia brings his show to the Fringe again and on the night I attend it’s a sellout. I’ve never seen Stephen perform live before, but I’ve heard nothing but good reports so the bar is set high already. Go on, impress me…

Let’s get the formalities out of the way first. Where is everyone from, note the cultural differences, and only once the initial audience banter is over does the show go into overdrive. In fact, it steps up several gears.

The show’s topic is one that’s surely been done to death on the comedy circuit- love. Yet I still find myself completely engrossed and laughing my arse off, not just at the jokes, but the mannerisms too. His Hugh Grant impression was spot on.

Being from a mixed Irish/Argentinian family made for some interesting stories. The one about him questioning the sexuality of Jesus (a ripped bloke, hanging out with a bunch of guys and with his top off all the time) was a stormer of a story. Not least the “CrossFit” gag.

His love of teachers who hate their jobs wasn’t as strong as the infatuation he had for Miss Wolf, one of his own teachers…when he was just four years old. And the revolving door of therapist after therapist made for some interesting tales. The counselor who gaslit him and rolled her eyes when he spoke made him even more fucked up than he was already. And of course, there was the one who claimed they were a therapist, but who looked more like a janitor trying to work two jobs at the same time.

This leads to his take on “The Jerry Springer Show”, a guy who he used to think was an actual therapist! 

“Falling in love isn’t a good thing”, he quips. When has falling been a good thing? If you fall on your face you’re a f^∗cking idiot so why is love any different? After listening to the noises his parents made when they were “making love” (another phrase he questions), he had no chance.

But no more spoilers. Go see him yourself and however fucked up you think your love life is, you might think it isn’t so bad after an hour of Stephen Mullan. And it’s cheaper than counseling.

JOHN MEAGHER

Title of Show: Big Year

The show starts with a bit of a glitch as the lighting on stage seems to be a bit screwed, but John fixes it himself and after the second introduction, he’s on stage and straight into the action. 

This is just John, being John. No audience banter is needed as he hits the ground running, telling the story of his life and a childhood upbringing that would send most kids into therapy, if not a straitjacket.

This is a story of a kid being taken from “paradise” (Southern Ireland), to live in one of the most troubled regions of Northern Ireland at a time when it was all really kicking off. It made him question why his dad had dragged them headfirst into the lion’s den and made him wonder what his motives really were.

The story of when his dad told him to “man up and hold back the tears” when he had a gun pointed at his face, and the interrogation classes “stare at the wall when they’re asking you questions and don’t flinch when they try and pull your fingernails out” should have earned him a Blue Peter badge. Imagine the Chuckle Brothers doing a skit about Chinese water torture. It must have been a total mindfuck of a childhood.

For the audience, it was a struggle between laughing and gasping in horror, but it was a story that had to be told. Not surprisingly, it led to therapy later in life as John’s anger issues became a problem, not least for his partner.

The story of the botched proposal to his Middle-Eastern partner was a payoff well worth waiting for and it showed that no matter how fucked you think you are, you can come through the other end a better person. Especially when you realise that most of your troubles are the ones that other people have put in your head.

John Meagher is likeable, honest, and very funny.