Luke Toulson |
A tragic quality surrounds clowns and supply teachers everywhere. Both put careers on the line in front of often tired, uninterested audiences, and attempt to entertain/teach. Luke Toulson, himself a former teacher, highlights this even more by an hour of self-deprecating jokes locked up in the Pleasance cellar. He isn’t actually bitter of course; it’s all part of the humour…ahem. Comedy reviewing surely remains unique in the sense that the likeability of the performer is central to any recommendation. Toulson is certainly a likeable stand-up (or am I just feeling sorry for him?) and his performance has a relaxed down to earth feel that many relish. His material is another matter however. It often fails to rouse the audience to laughter at all, and on a few occasions we are left hanging.  Yet Toulson’s delivery is such that substance is often inconsequential. He seems to stroll about the comedy landscape with a style that means he can touch on almost any subject and make them sound wholly appropriate for any class room. His ‘Scot off’ – where Scottish members of the audience are challenged to an accent standoff flounders a bit though - most people going to Fringe being English anyway. As a result Toulson is left with about four Scots in an audience of around twenty. Toulson has a good style and his class seems fairly amused. Yet his material is somewhat lacking in substance. See Me. |
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