STRANGE JAM
Sometimes you look at the sky and think “That water? It ain’t staying up there...”.
Luckily during the Edinburgh Fringe this means that you are about three feet from a dry space and you end up in the nearest comedy venue - taking that massive risk on spending an hour shut in a room with someone you haven’t even read the blurb for. But they have a roof for an hour - so you’re in.
Luckily with Rob Copland’s Show - that gamble paid off. Yes - the heavens opened as we all sat smugly inside - but they did so while we laughed our smugly dry backsides off.
Rob gives his audience no room for manouvere from the start - like an over zealous dad who has an itinerary of enforced fun, he gently cajoles - nay positively bullies his audience into smiling. If the energy drops - you get a good minute of musical interlude and compulsory partying. You WILL have fun kids. You WILL!!
With tales taken straight from a clearly over active imagination we see into the delightful chaos which is the Copland brain. Imaginary football managers constantly critiquing his routine, a gospel choir echoing his punchlines and of course an ever captive audience of shampoo bottles in his broken shower. The routines are slick, the characters clear - the energy level off the scale.
Rob’s self confessed foe is his own concentration which in a busy fringe venue often causes issue - riding the bucking horse that is ADHD through it will always lead to those ‘where was I?’ moments. He dealt with these fantastically well however and in that brief moment where the jester mask did slip and we got “This is reality Rob” - the moment felt genuine and gave real impact to the evening.
If you like your comedians covering more space on the pitch than any other and regularly knocking you the sweetest of passes then you’d do far worse than an afternoon with Rob Copland. I feel like I stumbled across a real Fringe gem.
‘Strange Jam’ is playing in Room 5 at Bar Bados until Aug 25th as part of the PBH Free Fringe
