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Josh Thomas: Let's Tidy Up

 
Kate Nora Review by Kate Nora 3 Published: 13 Aug 2024 Pleasance Courtyard Show Dates: 31 Jul 2024-25 Aug 2024

When Thomas first tumbles into the stage you'd be forgiven for thinking he's your perpetually late friend who always manages to make up for his tardiness with a series of entertaining stories.

Revelation of imperfection and acceptance, peppered with enjoyable anecdotes

The show could seem like a long stream of consciousness from start to finish, but there is method to the madness. At least, for the most part. The theme - Thomas' inability to focus on cleaning his apartment one time two years ago - is bookended by childhood memories and a more recent revelation of imperfection and acceptance, while peppered with enjoyable anecdotes that really round out our picture of the comic.

He grabs our attention at the beginning with his wild reactions to relatively ordinary everyday interactions, turning his most embarrassing moments into comedy gold. However, by the mid-point of the show we’re more familiar with his delightful awkwardness, and the stories lose their shock value and become rambling anecdotes that feel a tad too long.

It’s true that a Monday evening at the Fringe can put a comic at a slight disadvantage compared to a more raucous weekend performance. Thomas did address this in his usual blunt way at times, calling us his “quietest audience” so far. But the end result was still a pleasant hour-long show without any big ha-ha moments. You might leave feeling very fond of Thomas but wondering if the tickets should have been less expensive.

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The Blurb:

This is a show where Josh tidies up. Tidying up is not normally the stuff of gripping drama, it wouldn't be a propulsive narrative for most people but for Josh it's Everest, a fundamentally impossible task, like trying to defy the moon and control the tides. Josh's brain has managed to make him the creator and star of hit TV shows (Please Like Me, Everything's Gonna Be Okay), in this show he tries to work out how to do the small stuff. Written with award-winning playwright, Lally Katz.