By Ollie Wilson
In almost 30 years covering comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe, I have never attended the same show twice - so this is a first.
It only happened because I met Ali Brice who was out flyering and, with typical depressive funk, like Flanders from The Simpsons on anti-depressants, said he was going to cancel that last night's show because he hadn't sold any tickets. 'Don't do that,' I said. 'If you promise to go ahead, I will review it.' We shook on it.
I'd first met Ali Bruce, a charity social media manager, a few days earlier, when his act had largely consisted of amplifying my laugh and getting my companion at that gig to fix his lighting! You see, he doesn't have what you might call comedy material to fall back on and relies heavily on the audience to provide the entertainment for the evening. For reasons no one can quite understand, Brice is the hapless catalyst for hilarity.
On my second visit, he was also inadvertently very funny, although he seemed morose and eager to get the show over with. The audience - almost a capacity crowd - ended up talking to each other as he observed them from the stage.
Ali Brice is like a human car crash on a stage and, for reasons that are, I suspect, very British, we all find this terribly amusing.
Indeed, Brice has hit on something special that is very hard to discern but is amazing when it works. That's why I am giving him five stars.
Star rating: *****
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