He enters resplendent in his tartan jacket, setting in motion sixty minutes of stunningly acute comic observation laced with some telling introspection all delivered with totally engaging pizzazz.
Sixty minutes of stunningly acute comic observation laced with telling introspection
Yes, Kieran Hodgson is back on the Fringe (he has previously accrued three Edinburgh Comedy award nominations) and this time, his new home of Glasgow is the launch pad for his one-man show.
He tells of his journey to Scotland, a Yorkshireman by birth, he was working in London when he accepted the role of Gordon in Scottish sitcom Two Doors Down. Having self-doubts, he thinks moving north and finding his inner Scot could be the very dab.
Hodgson then takes us on some wonderful flights of fancy; he is welcomed tae Glesga by Harry Lauder in song with a magnificent satire of the city and Lauder himself.
His travels take him to the Highlands and an inn where he has the temerity to order vegan haggis. Hodgson turns the comic searchlight both side of the border with a cracking commentary on the psyche of both.
Closer to home, he looks at himself and does not like what he sees. A nerd, addicted to facts and figures, giving a best man’s speech characterised by its cleverness but free of emotion.
Hodgson is so engaging and his moments of self-doubt just cement the warm relationship with the audience. He is simply hilarious and his gift for mimicry delights with prime ministers Gordon Brown and Margaret Thatcher popping up alongside the characters who people his everyday life.
The joke rate is phenomenal and it is testament to Hodgson’s talents as writer and performer that he brings so much to a one-hour show. What makes it particularly memorable is his ability to weave together his views of a nation and its characters with an unassuming portrait of himself creating moments of hilarity and emotion.
