Tim Key: Mulberry

We have been following the career of Tim Key for quite a while from short-lived sketch group "Cowards", "We Need Answers" with Mark Watson and Alex Horne as well as doing proper acting at the Old Vic London in "Art" with Rufus Sewell and the much missed Paul Ritter. Weirdly, we had never seen Tim in a solo show. Well, we have now.

This is the first full Edinburgh festival since 2019 due to you know what and although it is probably the most significant event in most of our lives it doesn't seem to be dominating this years Fringe as I might have expected. Well, Key seems to be remedying that oversight siinglehandedly.

The show is basically him bemoaning how the virus has had a negative impact on his 'blossoming career' resulting in disappointing showings in a couple of quiz shows, not as a contestant but as an answer.

Naturally there are poems, on playing cards obviously, which are the perfect blend of the hilarious and the poignant.

A few lucky performers can have an audience in the palm of their hands just by looking at them without having to say anything. The 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner possesses that quality and the ability to pack so much good material into an hour that it goes by far too quickly and you definitely want more.

Ultimately I suspect that the biggest joke of the night is that Tim is one of the people least concerned about celebrity and fame on the circuit. If you can get a ticket for the rest of this run please go and see someone at the absolute top of their game. Don't bet against him

Superb.