In spite of the title, there is nothing careless about Adam Vincent’s debut stand-up show at Edinburgh – although I wish I could say the same about the person who listed the wrong timing on the Fringe website. From the outset, is clear that Vincent is a skilled and serious comedian. His jokes are sharp, hilariously irreverent, and he makes well-timed segues into the next joke before anything has the chance to become overcooked.
Vincent is undeniably one of the more talented comedians I have seen at the Fringe.
The evening begins on a strong note, with some side-splittingly funny jokes about his son’s pet tomato and his fears about messing his children up. Chucking political correctness aside, he makes some wonderfully blunt jokes about his wife, fat people, and homeless people who sell the Big Issue.
A series of jokes inspired by his short stint as a nurse elicit plenty of laughs, notably when he recounts his game of ‘poo-ball’ with a hospital patient. Some of the Australian comedian’s jokes on public healthcare did not go down so well with the predominantly British audience, but this could well have been the result of regional differences in humour: the New Zealander I was with enjoyed these immensely.
Vincent is well-aware of his audience’s reactions and demonstrates an impressive willingness to adapt and improvise accordingly. He gives off a pleasant and self-reflexive vibe, being the first one to suggest that his show has been a bit ‘hit and miss’.
While the energy of the first half of the show wasn’t quite sustained until the end, Vincent is undeniably one of the more talented comedians I have seen at the Fringe. He delivers a highly enjoyable hour of good old-fashioned stand-up, a welcome reprieve from many other shows of the same genre which try to juggle too many things at once. Go watch him perform at Jekyll and Hyde at 10.30pm – you won’t regret it!
