Milo Edwards' comedy is a little like marmalade, but love it or hate it, he is nevertheless a great comedian. Sentimental is the best and clearest example so far of his spark and inherent talent for comedy.
Edwards has really found his voice as a comedian
Distancing himself from Dickensian characterisations – although Sentimental probably falls somewhere closer to Tennessee Williams – Edwards pushes his abilities as a performer to their fullest extent, adding impressions, prop comedy and an entourage to really hit home the overall messaging in his show about the kindness of strangers and finding the inherent goodness in people. Interspersing stories about his family with observations on British society and politics, Edwards fully explores feelings of nostalgia and sentimentality, and the various way that they are expressed, both positive and negative. His dry tone and off the cuff interjections – that become a running joke – are extremely dark to the point where ‘gallows humour’ doesn’t really cover what he’s doing. Throughout his show, he signposts his material and – whilst admittedly helpful – the purpose behind this part of his material makes the rest of the show funnier as a result, in one of best examples of British spirit.
As dark as this show gets, there are equally light-hearted moments which balance them out. In Sentimental, Edwards adapts his onstage persona, not enough to completely change our expectations for this show, but enough to create some chinks in his comedic arsenal that is usually entirely made up of the gap between realism and nihilism. Throughout this show, Edwards pursues avenues of thought and logic right to the end, not balking at the conclusions that these paths might lead him to. Eventually it becomes rather clear that despite this being a stand-up show, Edwards’ fixes are not that far out of the realms of reality from where we are, and if they would be put into practice, not only would he be right but also just something it would be pretty interesting to see happen. In Sentimental, Edwards has really found his voice as a comedian.
We leave Sentimental with as close to a warm, fuzzy, hopeful feeling as we can get in this crazy world, more secure in the knowledge that we can always rely on the kindness of strangers.
