Eric Davidson's Second Day Soup!

I got pulled into this pure wee gem of a show at almost the last minute. And I have a confession - I really don’t take to stand-up comedians. There, that’s me laid bare. I’ve seen a lot that just don’t make me laugh. So what was I doing, chortling and chuckling away and occasionally downright howling aloud at Eric Davidson’s performance. I’ll tell you why, it’s because he’s bloody brilliant.No false, forced disingenuous humour about the bad day he’s had, no yelling and swearing at the audience or picking on its less fortunate members, no big, high profile advertising. Just dead good patter delivered with incredible ease. There’s a wonderful Gilbert and Sullivan number about the very model of an ineffectual Prime Minister, which sounded so right that I wondered if Gilbert and Sullivan had written it themselves, and which I’m sure even Gordon Brown would have loved. Then there’s a gentle lingering diatribe - I do love a gentle diatribe rather than a rant - about Newton Grange, a town I know well and which I have no doubt Davidson does as well. Like a terrier with a rag, he gradually chewed the place to a saliva-sodden death. I just adored the joke about monkeys having a day off from the zoo to go to Newton Grange to watch the folk having their tea. I know I shouldn’t give away his jokes, but it’s the way he tells them, as the saying goes. This kind of comedy is rare stuff indeed. His songs are great fun, his material first rate and homespun. Bin Laden as Susan Boyle crossed with Les Mis? Just wait.His show last year was a sell-out, and this one deserves to be as well. Davidson has mastered the art of laid-back, subtle but barbed comedy, delivered in a style that is uniquely his own. There’s none of that in-your-face-late-night-stuff that you’ve seen a million times before. He seems to be a terribly nice bloke who just wants to entertain and who could be as endearing off the stage as on, like a favourite uncle at Christmas time. You want to take him home to mother (provided she’s not on the Newton Grange tourism board) or keep him in your pocket for a rainy day. He is one of the secret pleasures of the Fringe - and take that from a reviewer who normally stays away from stand-up comedy. Now - what about a statue in Newton Grange town centre?