Staid old Edinburgh University's McEwan Hall is unexpectedly pressed into service as a Fringe mega-venue for several hundred punters, like one of Morningside's blue-rinse ladies lifting her skirts with a flash of frilly knickers to show a sense of fun. Sadly though, the logistics to facilitate the fun weren't quite there on the night. Taking over 40 minutes to file in, we were a good 20 minutes late starting, causing quite a few people to have to leave before the end to catch buses and next shows. The seating allocation would also have made Ryanair blush, with cable-tied chairs lashed together in over-close proximity. Try to sit between two skinny twenty-somethings if you can, and like on an airline, pray that you've not got the seat next to someone of more ample proportions.But these grumbles are probably beyond Jim Jefferies' control, and he comes out firing on all comedy cylinders with his tried and tested brand of shock humour, serving up an immediate ace with why good looking women don't need to pay for dinner, and if you (as a woman) find yourself paying or going Dutch, then maybe you're not as good looking as you think (it goes downhill taste-wise pretty fast from there...)This is just the starting point for a bumpy-ride of well-past-the-knuckle humour where no subject is off limits. Jefferies is a big enough name now that no-one in the crowd is here by mistake - we're all more than up for this kind of stuff, and urge him on with our laughter and applause to take on taboo after taboo. He doesn't disappoint, and delivers a rousing roundhouse of laughs, barely giving his audience time to inhale between gasps of ecstatic outrage.He has us all warmed up nicely with this before reflecting on the title of his show and his ever-present battle with the bottle. Unfortunately, his choice of show title has offended some in the Jewish community, and he nicely demolishes the 'my holocaust is bigger than your holocaust' claims of his critics.From there, the second half of the show is pretty much taken up with an extended tale of taking his now 30-something childhood friend paralysed with Muscular Dystrophy to visit a brothel to enjoy his one and probably only sexual experience. As usual, this comedy romp of a tale is liberally spliced with Jefferies' hedonistic and yet loveable take on life, bringing the show to a rousing climax.Older, wiser and somehow more comfortable in his bad-boy skin than previous shows, Jefferies still gives us a rousing comedy performance, hugely enjoyed by his dedicated army of filth-fans. Catch this show for an hour of great chuckles and forbidden belly laughs (but as usual, perhaps this isn't the show to take your granny to).
