23/08/26

Underbelly (Bluebell), Edinburgh

Tom Neenan is a bit of a favourite here an B&B. We first chanced upon him at the Fringe in 2015 with The Andromeda Paradox, a whip-smart parody of The Quatermass Experiment. The following year there was Vaudeville, a kind of Hammer horror spoof, which won one of our Fringe Bouquets.

With the oddly-named Portrait of a Tom as a Young Neenan, he steers closer to a traditional stand-up set, explaining that he hurriedly invented that title when his original choice, Work in Progress, was nixed for obvious reasons.

POTATAAYN is based around true events. During the lockdown in 2020, Neenan took up painting pictures as a method of passing the empty hours. Unlike so many comedians who undertake artistic endeavours, he turned out to be genuinely talented and his paintings can be easily found online. (I should probably be grateful he didn’t attempt to start writing fiction, but stick around, that could still happen.)

In 2024, Neenan was commissioned to paint a portrait of an eccentric 86-year-old Yorkshireman called Lionel and, around the same time, was also invited to attend a wedding that he really didn’t want to go to – mostly because, during lockdown, he’d become addicted to eating sweets and his suit was now uncomfortably tight…

From these disparate elements, Neenan derives a set that has me (and the rest of the audience) laughing throughout, ranging from amused chuckles to hearty guffaws – and, while I do occasionally find myself wistfully missing the clever parodies of those earlier shows, he’s clearly taking a different route here and is doing so with his customary aplomb.

Suffice to say that Neenan still has that peerless timing and an ability to deliver a punchline with a wicked self-deprecating grin. If you’re hunting for guaranteed laughs – and let’s be honest, there are thousands of  people who come to the Fringe with exactly that aim – you’ll find what you’re looking for in Underbelly’s Bluebell.

Oh and yes, Tom, I do remember when Snickers bars were called Marathons…

4 stars

Philip Caveney