Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013 – REVIEW – The Tim Vine Chat Show *****

The Tim Vine Chat Show, Pleasance Courtyard 3:50pm & 5:10pm, until 26 Aug (except 14), See venue for ticket availability and pricing

No one can write and deliver one-liners like Tim Vine, who pulls out all the stops in this enormously engrossing show, built around the idea that we all have entertaining stories to tell.

Amidst the barrage of pun-based fun, play-on-words humour, musical moments and prop gags (at one point he picked up a skipping rope, saying he would ‘skip that one’), Vine becomes a chat show interviewer, inviting members of the audience to submit their job titles and an interesting story before the show to then be picked for further questioning.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgMtPrUnrM0]

The audience participation element is executed with vigour and wit. Vine selects five people with a range of jobs and reels off jokes relating to their occupations, proving his incredible ability of storing jokes on almost every imaginable topic. He presents them to the uproarious crowd as if he was playing a strong hand at a game of poker; in this show, he always wins.

The show is like a volcano. Tim Vine bubbles over with non-stop comedy while the audience erupt with laughter. If you are not fortunate enough to secure tickets at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, set a reminder now to book tickets for next year. This is must-see manic hilarity.