Jordan Brookes: Fontanelle

Review by David Cox

Anyone who has read our reviews this festival (well done if you have) will notice an occasional theme. DarkChat have been reviewing in the Scottish capital for seventeen years now and we are thrilled that several of the acts we have seen at the beginning of their career are now established performers, eg Rob Auton and Luke Wright.

My involvement with Jordan Brookes goes back to small supporting gigs in tiny Cardiff venues. In each of these cases I always enjoyed their material but I can't claim to have predicted their rise to the top, in Jordan's case winning the Edinburgh comedy award a couple of years ago.

I always try to fit his show into our itinerary and brought along some DarkChatters who had never previously sampled the Jordan experience. In true fashion this wasn't the show I was expecting but I am always stunned and surprised by his composure and confidence on stage, even if he can seem a little aggressive at times, the complete opposite of his off-stage persona.

One of the joys of watching him perform is that he looks as if he doesn't know what he is doing and is unsure of his material, even though he does.

This year's title is Fontanelle, which I will let him explain as I implore you to see this show. We have only given five stars to three shows and this is one of them. I loved the fact that he will constantly surprise you and change direction throughout the show.

I won't reveal any of his content as this is a densely woven together tight hour long show which is a very rare beast at the festival.

I felt like a proud parent afterwards when my friends said they loved it all (I wasn't entirely convinced beforehand that he was there kind of comedian).

So, if you want to see a performer at the top of his game, in complete control of his material and audience, showing flights of fancy few artists can supply, rush to Pleasance Queen Dome.