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Rob Auton: CAN (An Hour-Long Story)

 
Victor Black Review by Victor Black 3 Published: 23 Aug 2025 Assembly Roxy Show Dates: 30 Jul 2025-24 Aug 2025

Rob Auton’s CAN opens with a cute introduction voiced by his parents, asking the audience to switch off phones and dispose of crisp packets. I suspected this was foreshadowing a narrative thread with callbacks to the novel approach to opening the show, but it wasn’t to be. Early in the show, Auton drops the best simile I’ve ever heard in a comedy show and tells a great story about kettle bells with an epic payoff, laying the groundwork for the narrative thread that would run through his hour-long story. His delivery is understated and quirky, his script littered with fun observations and quippy asides.

The roar of approval during the bow is something only heard in response to seeing your heroes

CAN is a motivational speaker with a goal: to change people’s lives without them being aware of his impact. It’s an enjoyable listen with plenty of peaks and troughs but missing a magic touch. Auton’s ad libs are great while they last, but often lead to him losing his train of thought and having to break character to get back on track. At one point, someone opens a can – he has a great interaction with them (though misses the can/CAN connection you’d hope a high-level pro could capitalise on) – and struggles to jump back into things. Were this a show with a neurodivergence thread running through, that might enhance it, but here, where it doesn’t get a mention, it puts a barrier between performer and audience. At times, this really felt like a well-polished work in progress rather than a sellout run. Or perhaps that’s just his brand. The show was fine, and I’d completely understand how some audience members or reviewers could find it a five-star experience, but I’ve seen many better shows by more impressive acts in much smaller and emptier rooms.

Towards the end, I noticed the woman to my right had nodded off, and across the aisle, another was close behind her. Contrastingly, about 10% of the audience gave an instant standing ovation, and the roar of approval he gained during the bow is something only heard in response to seeing your heroes. I can understand how Auton has amassed a following, but his performance and writing style is clearly a crowd-splitter.

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The Blurb:

Multi award-winning writer, performer and actor Rob Auton brings his debut story to the Edinburgh Fringe. Having written 11 critically acclaimed shows on specific themes, Rob Auton is now keen on telling you a story he has written about a man he made up called CAN. At one point in his life CAN was the world's number one motivational speaker... and then something happened. 'A genuine original' (Guardian). 'You will walk out feeling transformed. And fully alive' (Scotsman). 'Brilliant' (Stewart Lee). 'The mother freaking greatest' (James Acaster). 'A genius' (Bridget Christie).