Tony Law: Frillemorphesis, The Stand, Edinburgh Fringe 2015

By Ollie Wilson, MatchFit Media

 The shambling persona of Tony Law was in evidence even before the start of the show, shuffling about the corridors of the venue, trying to find the lavatory.

Around 200 people had queued up and filed in to see him - a great turn-out for a 1pm show early in the Fringe month. Law - clad in strange hat, cloak, lace-up shirt and baggy trews - began his act from the audience, with a string of off-the-cuff remarks.

Indeed, his entire set turned out to be an uncontrollable ramble: an apparently random riff through vague ideas and half-remembered material. Law chooses to come across as a drink and drugs-addled hobo, drifting through life like a big-bearded guy who sleeps under a canopy of stars.

Of course it is not that simple. He was once a young Canadian comedian who made an almost instant impact on the London comedy scene in the mid-to-late 1990s because of the slickness of his patter. And his mid-life crisis omnishambles is an act that would be impossible to pull off without great performance skills and depth of comedy material.

Law's lines can be deceptively clever: "It has taken a long time to get the confidence to continue doing this" and, about his beloved hound, "I need to be sober to look after the dog - what kind of a circle of hell is this?"

It was particularly funny when he donned a mask of a horse's head, played the trombone and then delivered a racing commentary with his problems and fears as the runners and riders.

The healthiness of Law's lifestyle may be in some doubt and his apparent inability to end the show without a doorman being forced to tell the audience, "The show has ended", was troubling. However, Tony Law is still a wonderfully funny man and not to be missed.

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