Ben Verth review

Verth's comic collective We Happy Few have pretty much taken over this little in-pub cinema for the 2011 (Free) Fringe. Fellow members Hitch and Mitch, Mickey Anderson and the Edgar Wright-recommended Who is Jean tread these rather nice boards later, but first it's a relatively trad stand-up set from the hairy native.

Self-deprecation is often the intro of choice for the jobbing gagsmith and local boy Verth kicks off by apologising for wearing the same clothes as he does on the flyer - you can't help but wonder if he makes this same apology every day - then trawls through a bevy of appearance-based insults that have been thrown his way over the years. Thankfully they haven't affected his self-esteem too much as he's actually a quietly confident performer, unfazed by the rigors of this first solo hour.

Having knocked himself down to size Verth moves onto the main thrust, the paranormal, and the slings and arrows of accepting it into your life. He has some experience of such matters as a former ghost-tour guide, and it's a fertile topic for audience interaction, with some splendid nuggets of nuttiness thrown in from previous shows.

While happily accepting of those who are beholden to the occult, Versh is a lot less impressed by those who try to milk money from it, notably a Chat-style magazine whose deeply unpleasant cover stories he leaves beaming from his screen a little too long, in truth. A better use of the visuals is a lengthy interactive bit involving an online search engine, which doesn't sound too promising but turns out to be another solid source of laughs, chiefly due to our host's nicely measured crowd management.

This show won't change your life, then - unless you're an occultist who's already wavering - but a free hour with Verth is very much worth your while.

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Ben Verth: Not With That Attitude listing