Simon Munnery's AGM 2008

Simon Munnery has established himself over the past few years as one of the most delightfully esoteric acts on the Fringe. He’s a real comic’s comic, championed by the likes of Stewart Lee for his commitment to risk-taking for the advancement of the stand-up’s art. Foremost among the risks he takes, of course, is that of not being funny, a fact that he himself acknowledges by use of a Venn diagram that places him somewhere in the hinterland between “unfunny comedy” and “shit art”.

He’s got a point: there are moments in this set where you fear that Munnery has wandered into subject matter that he cannot find a joke for. But if you’re willing to allow him some leash, the laughs that do come are all the more satisfying for being so ambitiously earned.

Four or five minutes of this set involves Munnery showing the audience a video on his laptop, in which he travels round Scotland tapping various railings with a spoon. In another skit, he sets himself the unenviable task of writing a comic song about the current economic climate. All this weirdness is punctuated, perhaps surprisingly, by some very decent conventional gags, which go a long way to keeping everyone on board.

Even so, a couple sitting beside me clearly couldn’t cope, holding each others hands for comfort throughout and leaving during the short interval. Munnery’s oddball inventiveness isn’t for everyone, but if you want to see the boundaries of this art form being gently, teasingly pushed, this is well worth an hour’s indulgence.