With their ‘Le Bureau de Strange,’
The Establishment are blowing away the Fringe

Hello Dan, first things first, where are you both from & where are you both at now, geographically speaking?
Dan: I was born and grew up mainly in London. Right now, at the time of writing this, I am in Margate doing a show at Dreamland, a vintage theme park, and we’ve been given free reign on the rides, perks of the job! Wish the nine-year-old me could be here to see it! Neil is a country boy from somewhere in Sussex, but we both live in London.

Hello Neil, how did you get into comedy?
Neil: I discovered comedy to survive the school bullies. If I clowned around and acted like the lowest level fool then I seemed to avoid getting a pummelling in the playground. However this eventually backfired as the bullies would deliberately pick on me so that I would make them laugh. I first performed comedy on stage whilst attending a school just for boys, the only time we ever mixed with the opposite sex was once a year when we joined forces with an all-girls school to put on a show at the local theatre, so I basically got into performing comedy to meet girls. Later on, I went to a Drama School to study to be a ‘proper’ actor, as I was told I would make a great Hamlet. When I attempted one of the famous Shakespearean scenes, I couldn’t find a prop dagger I needed, so I improvised by using a plastic spoon instead, which was the closest thing I could find from the school canteen. When I pulled out the plastic spoon during a very dramatic scene everyone just laughed, so I basically got into performing comedy professionally, because I was a shit actor.

When did you first realise you were funny?
Dan: I think I’ve always used humour to diffuse situations, avoid discomfort and ease tension, but most importantly just to have a good laugh. I was a bit of a piss-taker and liked messing around at school-taunting teachers and being a general pain in the arse. But I’m not sure I thought of myself as funny, I always hung out with kids I thought were much funnier than me.

What advice do you have for a comedy act making their debut at this year’s Fringe?
Neil: Try not to take it too seriously, it’s meant to be funny, so if you can’t find fun in what you’re doing then neither will the audience, although saying that, it can be a challenge to find pleasure when all you have in the audience are two pensioners and a critic, based on personal experience. Also try not to drink too much, it’s very tempting to go wild every night as there are so many exciting people and things around, but performing hungover is rarely fun, again based on personal experience.

Can you tell us about your training?
Dan: I went to an after-school acting club called Anna Schers in London, but I was always lacking in confidence. It was terrifying to get up and perform. So I didn’t for about fifteen years. Then I was writing and directing a friends comedy act and he said he thought I was quite funny and we should get up and do something together. His name was Guy Combes and collectively we were called Moonfish Rhumba and we made it to the finals of Hackney Empire and Amused Moose Competitions. So, thank you Guy for giving me a push! During this period I got a taste for performing comedy and started doing stand-up. Whilst on the circuit I met people who had done clown and theatre training in Paris with a supposedly scary genius of a man called Philippe Gaulier. It was very enlightening to find that comedic acting and clowning was a skill that could be developed. I spent some time in Paris with Philippe and sought out many other great teachers to find out as much as I could about this art form. Phillipe teaches the importance of having pleasure in performance… if you are not enjoying yourself how can you expect the audience to? This is a simple concept, but it can be difficult to achieve when night doing the same show 26 nights in a row. In ‘The Establishment: Le Bureau De Strange’ we try to keep it as fresh and unpredictable for ourselves, so that we have as much fun as possible.

You’ve got three famous comedy double-acts (dead or alive) coming round for dinner. Who would they be & what would you cook; starters, mains & dessert?
Neil: Well firstly I’d be a little annoyed that I’ve got to cook for six guests rather than just three, so I think some kind of soup to start, a stew for mains and rice pudding to finish, all of which can be put into three big bowls and just slopped out onto the plates. I guess it would be rude not to invite Morcambe and Wise, as they were always on the TV when I was growing up, so defined what a good comedy double act is for me. I’d like to invite Little and Large, as I’d be interested to know what they’ve been up to since the eighties, but mainly because I think they would be fine with me making jokes on how one is too fat and the other is a little short, which is generally considered a conversation faux pas at a dinner party. Finally, I’d invite the Moustache Brothers, who are a Burmese double act that I once met whilst travelling. One of them was imprisoned after pulling the short straw to tell a political joke criticising the government. After eventually being released from six years of hard labour they continued their double act, despite being told not to. I feel this kind of commitment to comedy deserves a free three course meal.

What does your perfect Sunday afternoon look like?
Dan: In my fantasy life I would be having a Sunday roast with my friends who are all the world’s most important artists, intellectuals and world leaders. But in reality I’m most happy doing virtually nothing, just chilling, maybe reading a book or watching Netflix.

You two are pretty hilarious together on-stage… are you the same off it?
Neil: Well thank you, that’s very kind. I think so, we try not to take life too seriously on stage or off it… we look to find humour in many things. We generally clown around a lot, except for when we’re being interviewed, which we take very seriously and without humour, like now for example. It seems much easier to be funny off stage when you’re in a double act. If you’re a solo act,you’renormally just sat in the corner on your own waiting to go on, wondering if anybody finds you funny or indeed even likes you. With a double act you’ve at least got the other person to find you funny and watch your back.

You’re bringing a show to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe; can you tell us about it?
Neil: This is our third show as The Establishment at the Ed Fringe, which so far this year has had sold out performances at the Leicester Comedy Festival, Brighton Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Adelaide Fringe, where it won the Weekly Award for Best Comedy. The Establishment are Godfrey and Cecil, two charming ultra-privileged chaps who take the audience on an anarchic rollercoaster of physical comedy and quick-fired wit. The show is very British and very stupid.

Where, when & why were The Establishment formed?
Dan: Me and Neil did a show together called Pekka and Strangebone in Edinburgh in 2013 and, during this time we came up with the idea for the act. The idea was basically just two gents in bowlers saying ‘I know where I’m going’. Pretty basic, but that’s how we work, we have a small idea then we try it out to see if it has legs. Eventually we gota chance to do it and we haven’t looked back since.

What are the creative processes behind writing material for the Establishment?
Neil: This is Top Secret, so I can’t really tell you. It’s a bit like asking Colonel Sanders for his delicious eleven herb and spice recipe, which in a way is a similar process to how we make a show. We throw a load of jokes and visual gags in at a rehearsal, then deep fry it in front of an audience, changing things as we go, until everything is crisp and lovely. I’m not quite sure why I’ve decided to compare our creative process to making KFC, I think maybe I’m just hungry right now.

Le Bureau de Strange

Heroes @ The Hive

Aug 1-25 (20:40)

READ THE REVIEW

The Fringe is currently tripping head over heels for a young and fabulous darling from New Zealand

Hello Eli, first things first, where are you both from & where are you both at now, geographically speaking?
I am from Christchurch New Zealand and now I live in Auckland – both of which, for reference, are cities where flying to the UK is a wild thing to do … especially to perform a show that’s meant to be about saving the planet.

When did you first realise you were funny?
I wrote a play of Bridge to Terabithia to perform at lunch time at school and played the main girl (who dies, sorry for spoiling) and pretty much did drag. It was a pretty out there thing for an eight-year old to do, but luckily the jokes were sharp, and the performance was golden so I didn’t get bullied and some of the popular kids even invited me to their laser tag birthday party celebrations. I think it fully clicked in that I was a good performer when I successfully convinced my teacher I was Muslim, so that during Bible study in schools I was allowed to go to the library and play Commander Keen with my friend Nadeem. My Christian parents found out months later, and it did not go down well at home.

How did you get into stand-up?
My dear friend James Roque got me into it. I had been watching the same Sarah Silverman clip over and over for years, and James and I were at acting school together, and he pushed me into it. I started stand-up, all about being single and wanting a girlfriend desperately, then came out to my friends a month later, but still took another six months to stop talking about Pokemon and let the audience know I was gay (they probably knew…)

Can you tell us about the comedy scene in New Zealand?
I’m part of an amazing crew called Snort – and we are doing our improv show together in Edinburgh for the first time this year! It’s a cult hit which has been selling out a weekly show for five years now, with almost no money put into advertising it. Being part of Snort is one of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me, and we all make each other better at what we do. Come and see that show at Pleasance this festival and you’ll get to see seven of the comedians who are truly dominating the New Zealand scene. Our country is so small that everyone in comedy knows each other, you get to work with everyone, and in the last fiveish years there’s been an amazing influx of diverse, fresh new voices. Straight white men aren’t dominating our line-ups so hugely anymore, which has been a cool change.

What are the creative processes behind writing your material?
I write down notes, which truly make no sense, and then I try and speak them out as jokes, literally while in the shower or the car. I bullet point them, try them on stage, record those performances, write down what I said, then edit. It’s a messy process, but I’m a big hot mess! The thing I am most scared of is my headphone jack pulling out of my phone whilst I’m at the supermarket or the gym, and everyone around me suddenly finding out I’ve been listening to myself talk for an hour.

What is it about being funny in front of other people that makes you tick?
Getting laughs is truly like a drug, and to me speaking through comedy feels so much more truthful than other forms of performance (cue deep seated issues that will manifest in about fifteen years all because of me thinking this).

What does Eli Matthewson like to do when he’s not being, well, funny?
Eat an egg-based breakfast meal out with friends and drink bottomless coffee until it causes serious problems inside my body. I love a board game, though but they do often lead to me and my boyfriend’s only real arguments. I go running a lot, is usually super late at night after a gig to clear my head -I look like a serial killer, but it’s ok! I’m just wired at night. I’m also obsessive about pop music and will spend many nights with a facemask on listening to Carly Rae Jepsen and getting mad at the world for not appreciating her enough.

You’re bringing a show to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe; can you tell us about it?
It’s called An Inconvenient Poof, and it’s about my quest to save the world. It’s been ten years since I was Head of Environment (a real job at my school), and this show is sort of a test to see how I’ve done since then… It’s about the constant struggle of being a well-intentioned millennial, trying to better the planet but being too caught up in the small things that get in the way. It’s about the burnout of trying to keep up with all the things we are meant to do as millennials -raise indoor plants, live plastic-free, watch all the important TV, but also Love Island, drink no alcohol but also actually drink one glass of red wine a day cause it’s good for your heart, reject homophobic brands unless they make the only moisturiser that works for your skin type – all that fun stuff!

Where, when & why the hell did you conceive An Inconvenient Poof?
I was at the supermarket, I’d forgotten to bring my reusable for the seventy-eighth time… I had to do something about it! Also, for all the time since I was given that Environment Prefect job I’ve wanted to make a positive difference in the world, and I thought signing up to do this show would make me do that… I don’t know if I have made the world a better place yet, but I have got a lot of funny stories in the process.

We do live in quite challenging times; austerity, climate change, etc -is your show satire or are you actually trying to get a message through?
I think I have messages but, ultimately, I just hope it’s something people can relate to -the frustrating experience of being alive in these times, where is that we can see all the things going wrong around us, but we don’t know how to start. We get called a lazy generation, but I think what is seen as laziness is our inability to move out from under the incredible mounting pressures put on us by society and by older generations -those who had affordable housing, free tertiary education and were living without the weight of knowing the planet is dying. This is a show all about that millennial struggle, and I think a lot of people would relate.

You’ve got 20 seconds to sell the show to somebody in the streets of Edinburgh, what would you say?
I’d say look, I flew all the way from the literal other-side of the world so please at least give me points for effort and come to my fun, gay show. Then I’d play them a YouTube video – not of my stand-up, but of this kiwi Shakespeare student falling off a chair;

An Inconvenient Poof

Underbelly Bristo Square

Aug 1-25 (21:20)

READ THE REVIEW

Material:   Delivery:  
Laughs: Room: 

This is my third Nathan Cassidy Fringe review in a row. Two years ago I observed a fine play, which I loved, while last year I couldn’t mark him highly at all. I was right to do so, a chicken-hut of problems had put him off his stride & his performance levels were, he admitted, low. Life is all about ebbs & flows, so was he due a return to form? He was indeed, being presented with something far beyond my initial 2017 estimations of Nathan; something transcendent, something sorcerous. There appears in him a complete revivification of his artistic spark, & as you watch his magic carpet unwind you sense a certain eerieness, that something special is going down, but you don’t know what. Just little glances, looks, sunny puns & pauses as he casts his net of mystery all around us. The mask in front of all this is his stand-up, as good as the majority at the Fringe, & the way he pushes a turbo-boost button whenever the room flags for even half-a-moment is astonishing!

The thing about this show (and I think I’ve earned the right to say this as I’ve had done 10 years of shows now) that its seems to be connecting with people. I knew there was something different about it before I performed it, but one of the things I hadn’t considered is from a few people I’ve heard, it’s incredibly uplifting
Read the full interview…

Nathan is like the ultimate anti-braggadocio, his boasts are solid, his pretensions likeable; while his tone is akin to a hammond organ played by a pro. His imagination for humour is like the fox that wanders city streets at night, searching for food where others have left it. Nathan also has the impertinent ability to tell stories in the staccato fashion; each line is told like a joke, but without a punchline – an extraordinary ability that has you hanging on every pause. I also enjoy the way he plants his joke-seeds early, some of whom reappear after the blossoming, like supporting actors in a film.

His tale is based on a recent encounter with a personal trainer – a sublime chance meeting from which alchemy comes Observational, now thoroughly enlivened to a whole new level of audience experience. The overall is a well-woven tapestry that you can see in your mind’s eye sketched out on a piece of paper with boxes & arrows & scribbles. Then comes the spinejangling & euphoric Keyser Söze finale, when all will seem well in the world!

Damian Beeson Bullen

Observational

The City Cafe

Aug 18-25 (18:45)

Tweets by @nathancassidy

www.nathancassidy.com/al

Just the Tonic @ The Caves
Aug 19 – 25 (12.10)

Material:  Delivery:   Laughs:   Room: 

Matt Hobs BSc (Bristolian of Science) has just confirmed for me that badgers are
dually adorable and cool, and that it is always funny to take the piss out of Brian Cox. To demonstrate such erudite emeralds, Hobs possesses puns and pictures, anecdotes and fun facts, and you can always just entertain yourself by listening to his accent. With Fringe-length stand-up shows, even when I am enjoying myself, there’s a spectre inside me just really excited for it all to end. Matt Hobs made me feel entirely the opposite – I was quite content to simply sit in his company and listen intently yet gently to what he had to say. It took a while for his engine to warm up – but as Hobs settled in, and the audience got used to his style, we warmed to him in open welcome and the earlier tumbleweed thoroughly cleared.

The first section was that kind of stand-up where you doubt the validity of the anecdotes and it stops them from being funny. But when he gets into his groove with the pre-promised science content, burnish’d bronze by his experience in the field, insightful laughter splashed into the room like water-sprinklers in a fire. I sensed a deliberate effort on the part of Hobs to make sure that certain sections of the show were on a non-scientific subjects, to mix it up, but I also sensed that the audience was there mainly for the science. Let it do what it says on the tin.

Nothing was ever needlessly dumbed down – I liked that – and his expertly constructed PowerPoint ensured that no-one was left behind, while providing a decent platform for visual comedy. Hobs also allowed himself some vulnerability towards the end, a winning move which got us firmly on his side. His strongest feature, I thought, was his likability, and I think opening up a bit earlier would have gone down well. He is definitely getting there, however, like a werewolf mid-change.

Eilidh Sawyers

It can’t be that funny inheriting a dilapidated stately home needing huge amounts of work –  or can it?

Hello Hopwood, first things first, where are you from & where are you at, geographically speaking?
I grew up in Holland, Michigan USA, then moved to LA to study and work. I now live in Greater Manchester. Three completely different places- but all of them feel like home. It’s been quite a wild ride!

When did you first realise you were funny?
I used to love to play practical jokes as a child. I’m not sure if it was realising I was funny or realising I was a bit odd, but when I was about 7 or 8 years old my friends and I used to dress up like senior citizens and go knocking on people’s doors asking to borrow a cup of sugar. We found it hilarious but I think the neighbours probably thought we all needed to be put on medication.

When did you first develop a passion for comedy?
From a very early age, when people laughed at my antics it encouraged me. I think it came from watching classic old television comedies. I grew up in America but remember my sister and I sneaking downstairs late at night to watch old reruns of ‘The Benny Hill Show’. I know the adult humour was way over our heads but I do remember how much we laughed.

Why did you decide to launch your own YouTube Channel?
After I moved to England I had lots of people asking me for updates on the Hopwood Hall project. I love to make funny videos so it seemed like the best way to show people the progress while hopefully making them laugh.

Can you tell us about your background in comedy in Hollywood?
I started out by writing and acting in indie comedy films that luckily got attention from the LA film industry and opened a lot of doors. An agent then encouraged me to get into stand-up comedy. Being a writer/performer gives you a bit more control in an out-of-control business! I love the entertainment business because it’s so exciting and you never know where each opportunity can take you.

You’ve got three famous comedians (dead or alive) coming round for dinner. Who would they be & what would you cook; starters, mains & dessert?
I’d order in – so I could concentrate on having a good time with them rather than be hovering over a hot stove! Comedians I’d invite would be: Jerry Seinfeld, Lily Tomlin and the Marx brothers (all 3 of them but hopefully they could all fit on the remaining chair).

You’re performing at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe; can you tell us about the show?
The show is called ‘The Yank is a Manc! My Ancestors & Me’ and tells the story of my true adventures coming from LA to try to restore my ancestors’ 600-year-old stately home near Manchester, called Hopwood Hall. My grandfather (also called Hopwood) told me stories about it when I was growing up but I always thought he was telling a fairy tale. So you can imagine my surprise when I found out it was all real!

Can you tell us a little about the genealogy that gave you your new home?
I grew up with the name Hopwood but never really fully grasped its origins until I was searching my ancestry online one night in LA and discovered Hopwood Hall was a real place. I was invited over to England to see it and my life has never been the same!

How are you finding the NW of England, & the Mancunians in particular?
They are incredibly warm and welcoming. Except for the one time when I tried to use my American Express card to pay at the local chippy. I almost got thrown out onto the street! Now I realise I probably deserved it! The support from the Mancunians has been amazing.

What is the biggest obstacle you overcame while putting your show together? Condensing everything that has happened so far into a one hour show!

You’ve got 20 seconds to sell the show to somebody in the streets…
I moved from Los Angeles to Manchester to rescue my ancestors 600-year-old home. If you like home renovation projects, ancestry or crazy madcapped adventures then come check it out – you’ll be taken across 6000 miles and 600 years in less than an hour.

What is your last-minute routine before stepping out on stage?
I do a special dance, but I can’t tell you more than that.

The Yank is a Manc!
My Ancestors & Me

The Space@ Surgeons Hall

Aug 19-24 (17:05)

Tweets by @HopwoodXIV

www.hopwoodxiv.com

Underbelly – Bristo Square
Aug 1 – 25 (17.50)

Material:  Delivery:   Laughs:   Room:

Without doubt there is only one Robyn Perkins; a most affable, laugh-with-able lady. She is clearly motivated to entertain & loves what she does, but will we? Well yes, was my answer, for a while anyway, as she illuminated a collection of tales from the packs of American Tinderwolves which are roaming her homelands today. Her quicksilver, anecdotal delivery is peppered with punchlines that trample over any sense of seriousness one might have had when we sat before her. Multiple aspects of the app-happy Game of Modern Love are dissected by this self-confessed ‘sexpositive‘ with an unsquirming frankness & speedy fluidity that invigorates a room of strangers into mutual friendship.

Half-way through the show, however, things take a rather technical turn. Love is explored scientifically through graphs & explanations of how our brain chemicals work. Then Robyn asks the audience to whip their phones out to do some online voting, with the results being relayed back onto the screen before us via more graphs. ‘Am I still a punter, or simply just a part of a study now, because… wait a minute, aren’t I supposed to be seeing a comedy show,‘ is the kinda sensation I got through all of this. It was all done very well, mind, & there are technophiles out there who would absolutely adore this section. For the random visitor, tho’ they’d be like ‘where’s the jokes gone?‘ They are there in the second half, but with everyone’s phones being out folk are starting to lose focus, their neurotransmitters angling for a game of Candycrush.

Damian Beeson Bullen

A Mash Reporter live in Edinburgh? Its true!

Hello Steve, first things first, where are you from & where are you at, geographically speaking?
My home town is Sutton-in-Ashfield, just outside Mansfield in the East Midlands. I’m pleased that finally the East Midlands is getting some recognition. There was a long gap between Robin Hood and Torvill and Dean.

When did you first realise you were funny?
It took a while. My family were the kind of people who could laugh like drains if  someone broke wind. I thought that the funny gene may have skipped me but when I got to comprehensive school that’s when I found comedy. I used to do bits in the morning lessons and if they worked I’d do them again in the afternoon ones.

Can you tell us about your career as a BBC radio phone-in host?
I used to be the other kind, the music presenter. There are only so many times you can try to sound pleased that you’re playing the same songs again so I moved across and
speech-based radio is an exciting place to be now. Absolutely everything has become polarised. From Brexit, to straws via every other news story someone will be self-
righteously angry about it.

How did you get into live comedy?
I paid my way through university writing jokes for local radio morning DJs but I’d tune in and get grumpy about how they delivered them. Even then I realised you can’t really criticise someone;s delivery if you;re not willing to try it yourself. So I did. I started trying out my jokes at open mic nights and that’s where I got hooked.

You’ve got three famous comedians (dead or alive) coming round for dinner. Who
would they be & what would you cook; starters, mains & dessert?
OK, let’s go for Groucho Marx, Lenny Bruce and Bernard Manning and we can sit there while Bernard gets taught a thing or two about how comedy can be used. The food would be true to my working class roots. Prawn cocktail, fish fingers and chips and then Arctic roll. Portions for one, because all the other people there are dead.

You’re performing at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe; what are you bringing to the table?
It’s the first Edinburg I’ve done since landed the gig on BBC 2’s The Mash Report, so it’s been nice to have the as seen on TV part of plugging it. I think that means people may give you slightly more attention and listen to what you have to say so I came up with a show about how I think we can be better people. We all know the right thing to do really, we are just really good at finding an excuse to do the worse thing. Get rid of those excuses and we could all live together with happiness and peace. It means you’d have to find another hobby other than hating people and being angry about everything, so I realise it’s a tough sell.

Has making & performing this show made YOU a better person?
It really has. When you spot a habit in other people it’s worth checking to see if you do it too. It’s no fun finding out you’re just as guilty of these habits but no one should be happy with being a hypocrite. Part of researching this show was learning about confirmation bias, and hearing that the experts who study it still find that they do it even though they know all about it. It means that trying to be better is a non-stop struggle but I believe it’s worth it.

How are you finding the Fringe experience of 2019?
Wet and tiring, just as the Fringe should be. I get this mix of feelings where I wish I could live like this all the time; waking up writing comedy, doing gigs, plugging shows on the radio, enjoying the most intense version of the job, but I also realise I wouldn’t last a week into September and if I don’t get a solid two days of sleep when I get home I may never recover.

What have been the biggest changes since your first Fringe?
The numbers of performers has increased so much since my first run. The urge to perform outweighs the desire of audiences to see performances and seeing as you need at least 20 people for every show performers put on, there is a thin-spreading effect. I quite like it when I’m walking in the New Town area, getting my mind out of the Fringe for a second, walk past a shop and see it has a sign saying Venue 3,248 and they have gigs on in there.

You’ve got 20 seconds to sell the show to somebody in the streets of Edinburgh,
what would you say?
Hey look at this flyer, it’s the guy from The Mash Report doing stand-up about making the world a better place. Only slightly better, but don’t we need it? If the world isn’t a better place at the end of August, no refunds! What’s that? Yes, it does look like me, doesn’t it? He’s doing so well he can hire lookalikes to do his flyering for him.

What will you be doing for the rest of 2019?
Sleeping for at least two days when I get home. The week after we’re back with the next series of The Mash Report. And there’s also an exciting radio project which I won’t go into details about to make it sound all mysterious and in case I get sacked from it.

Better Than

Stand 2

Aug 2-25 (20:50)

Tweets by @mrstevenallen

www.mrstevenallen.co.uk

Laughing Horse @ Bar 50
Aug 1 – 24 (18.00)

Material:  Delivery:   Laughs:   Room:

At Bar 50’s Alcove we were treated to the conundrum of comical masculinity performed by Aaron Twitchen, a gay man with a hairstyle (a bit like Bjork’s) who also did circus work. I believe I may have inadvertently intruded on a no-press performance, but I hope I’ll be forgiven because I’d rather just think of myself as a punter with a pen. So what did I see? Well, Twitchen is an expert storyteller; with his small, closely-packed audience lapping it  all up. In fact ,you’d be equally ravished if you picked up the story from just about any moment in his set.

It seemed he had broken up with a long-time partner (a matter of months which according to Aaron was a long time in gay terms), so found himself going to Egypt for a getaway to mend his broken heart. He hadn’t gone alone, however, but had been joined on the venture by friends. He joked about his father, the fact that pyramids offer no shelter from the sun and that where he was in Egypt was in fact 300 miles from the pyramids. Alongside these hilarious stories came his take on the contemporary era, taking huge swipes at anything that interested him or that he cared about.

Twitchen feels that being gay nowadays could do without the Pride reputation that has been built up over the decades, that if we human beings could just figure out how to stand together we could bring about a revolution that could actually change the world. This was an engaging and good humored way of addressing dissatisfaction in the modern world and modern society and more importantly questions being asked as to who and what we really are or may be.

Aaron Twitchen was frank, bubbly and sincere about his feelings as he touched on issues relevant to us all; a very intimate show, which I spent hoping I wouldn’t be the next person he’d pick on, albeit charmingly. Ultimately optimistic, you felt you were being shown a brighter future and being encouraged not to ever give up. We were all rainbows that no-one would be able to stop shining. Oh, and he’s very, very funny!

Daniel Donnelly