It's a hard task to sum up quite what
An act that lives up to the pre-show hype.
In the cramped confines of The Cellar in the Pleasance Courtyard, the audience laugh along with every surreal twist, turn and flights of fancy during this 50-minute show. It's a show that manages to reclaim the medium of PowerPoint from the kind of stultifying lectures and office presentations that have almost rendered the form meaningless.
Using each slide as a prompt, we see hand drawn phrases, photographs, and titles that act as a launch pad for an insight into Field's crazy world. There are also a number of drawings that highlight his other talents, although I wouldn't give up the day job just yet to pursue a life as an artist. There's a clear nod to Vic and Bob, the doyens of this style of comedy with this visual humour.
He sets up a number of gags that don't even need to be said, as the crowd are already on side and attuned to the comic's train of thought.
Unsurprisingly there's a bit in the middle about hallucinogenic drugs, something which Field has dabbled in. It makes you wonder whether this is what Milton Jones would be like if he had his pick of the mushroom fields.
It's a whistle tour of the PowerPoint and there is a danger of the show running over. This necessitates the need for Field to speed through the remaining slides, to get to the grand finale.
For all Field's quirks, at the the heart of the comedy is the traditional aspects of the craft, the puns and gags. He gets away with telling the weaker gags by the way he delivers the punchline and almost goads the audience into laughing. That said there aren't many that fall flat.
The ending ramps up the surreal nature of show even more and in a way that you couldn't predict. If you want to experience the world of Andy Field vicariously, this run at Edinburgh may be the last time you see him this close up. As he's an act that lives up to the pre-show hype.
