ED2016 4/5 Reviews ED2016 Comedy Reviews

Robert Newman: The Brain Show (Phil McIntyre Entertainments)

By Bruce Blacklaw | Published on Wednesday 10 August 2016

Robert Newman has a bee in his bonnet. And cephalopods on his stage, but that’s another story (which also has Jean Michel Jarre in it). His bugbear is brainless interpretations of brain science, which he started reading up on after taking part in a brain imaging study and being cross at the result. He skips through some modern popular ‘science’, Freud, Sartre, Darwin, Newton and, er, Paul Weller, via a turn on the ukulele, some character comedy and impressions. It sounds like a lot to get through in an hour and actually it probably is – not all of the gags or the ideas have time to develop as they might, but overall it’s good, brainy stuff. And it’s funny.

Summerhall, until 28 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Bruce Blacklaw]