Proops greets every guest that enters the theatre with a personal handshake, a touch that shocked and pleased the audience. He then vanishes behind the curtain before boogying out over the stage to take his seat behind a small table, to welcoming applause. His hour long conversational style show doubles as an instalment in his Podcast series so his material is very current. A master of on the spot comedy, he mostly spoke of events that happened personally to him and in the world of news within the last twenty-four hours.
He talks with conviction and got lots of supporting applause from the audience
Proops had just arrived in Edinburgh the day before and so he began with some light hearted material about his experiences of Edinburgh and Scottish culture. He highlighted some of the subtle and silly differences between British and American customs, talking of supermarkets, his favourite chippies and tipping, to name a few topics. The audience seemed to be in awe of him.
He then steadily moved on to consider some of the grittier and poignant events in current affairs and such as the recent Commemoration of the beginning of World War I and America’s gun laws. He talks with conviction and got lots of supporting applause from the audience, especially when he turned to a brief tribute to the late James Brady who had died the day before the show. The show does become a little preachy but he speaks of important truths that we all should and do consider daily. Proops himself got so into the show that he ran out of time and I was disappointed that we didn’t get to indulge in the question and answer section that he suggested we would end with. He provoked both laughter and thought. I look forward to his next podcast, because this man has got a hell of a lot of interesting things to say and he certainly wasn’t finished.
