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Jazz Emu: The Pleasure is All Yours

 
Victor Black Review by Victor Black 4 Published: 26 Aug 2025 Pleasance Dome Show Dates: 30 Jul 2025-24 Aug 2025

Rapidly rising star Archie Henderson brings his alter ego Jazz Emu back to the festival, in what would be an absolute shoo-in for the Best Dressed Award, were it to exist. He bounds onto the stage with endless enthusiasm and frilly shoulder pads that go on for days, wielding an epic musical instrument, the likes of which I’ve never seen before – an electronic wind instrument (EWI).

From epic sight gags to kooky songs and utterly bizarre ideas, Emu is a surrealist fan’s dream come true

The Pleasure Is All Yours lies somewhere between an exploration into Henderson’s clown and a one-man variety show. A lot of the material might not appear award-worthy on paper, but in the hands of such a well-crafted character, the audience remain in the palm of his hand. He opens with a hilarious “How satisfied are you?” survey as he announces his mission: to gruntle, and things only get nuttier from there.

Aside from the striking visuals, Jazz Emu has a remarkable accent and speech pattern, and one can’t help but hang onto his every word. From epic sight gags (see: the waxing and waning moon) to kooky songs, sharp one-liners and utterly bizarre ideas such as his commentary on the contents and functions of the human body, Emu is a surrealist fan’s dream come true. One could almost be forgiven for predicting that Jazz Emu was extra-terrestrial, though this is disproved when he takes on the guise of an alien in the second half.

There was a quite remarkable moment in the second half, when Jazz was just starting to deliver a callback to a comment from 20 minutes earlier about a sneeze. At that precise moment, I gave out my only sneeze of the entire Fringe. Hypnotic stuff. Another 10 minutes later, he blessed me. Now that’s real comedy.

The only negatives from the show were that some of the writing didn’t fit onto the screen – which feels like an easy fix – and that the members of the front row he tried to engage with gave him absolutely nothing to work with, and it took him a trifle too long to cut his losses. It would also have been nice to hear a bit more from the EWI.

Some of the characters and social media personalities who have exploded from nowhere over the past five years really don’t translate to a live audience, or to a demographic who don’t engage with TikTok and Instagram. But you can rest assured that if you like kooky, quirky and intelligently crafted surrealist acts then Archie Henderson’s Jazz Emu is a keeper. The pleasure really is all ours.

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The Blurb:

Musical meteor Jazz Emu was born to please you. Total and Utter Audience Satisfaction is his middle name – finally, after a long and financially ruinous Deed Poll process. But he's feeling uneasy. A review described his last show as 'a bit much'. What? Was his seventeenth stage-dive too tastefully executed? Not this time. This time, he's living up to his middle-namesake. 'A work of genius' ***** (Telegraph). 'My new favourite comedian' ***** (Times). Telegraph's 2024 Top Shows to See at the Fringe. As seen on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.