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ED2023 Comedy Reviews ED2023 Reviews
Jack Docherty In Bowie And Me: Parallel Lives (Gilded Balloon)
By Bruce Blacklaw | Published on Monday 21 August 2023
Docherty’s mighty presence fills the room as he spins a superbly-delivered, autobiographical – if somewhat shaggy-dog – coming of age story, starting from ‘Starman’ on ‘Top Of The Pops’, ending in unrequited love followed by codas involving LSD at Murrayfield and eventually meeting the man himself. In one scene, he pretends to be his penis, in another he thinks he’s lost his penis and he calls Dougray Scott a cunt. If you’re not into any of that, this may not be for you. Without spoiling, he closes memorably with a jaw-dropping punch through the third wall at the cloying endings common to many Fringe comedy shows, whilst cleverly finding a way to acknowledge the problematic elements of Bowie’s sexual past.
Gilded Balloon, until 27 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Bruce Blacklaw]
