Tom Glover @ PBH at Carnivore

Over the course of his debut Edinburgh Fringe hour, Tom Glover carves out a wonderfully colourful family history, spanning three generations. Oh, and it has bikes and horror films in it too.

Ostensibly, A Glover Not a Fighter is about how the relationship between Glover and his father has evolved. From being a child and believing that his dad’s a superhero, to being a teenager and thinking he’s a twat because Glover was more into theatre than DIY, to being a twenty-something and fearing that maybe his dad isn’t even proud of him. The phonetic alphabet is used as a deft metaphor for the difference between Glover and his father, with Glover kindly making up a new one for millenials. Much like a James Acaster show, the metaphors don’t stop there though, as Glover creates layer upon layer of laughs, albeit less surreal than Acaster’s

Glover’s crowdwork is a highlight as well. Choosing to almost exclusively engage with ‘alpha males’ of the older generation, despite having outed himself as very much a ‘beta-male’. Speaking to all of them as though they’re his peers which works in great favour to the show's key underlying theme.

On the surface, this is a story about someone’s dad, but underneath it’s about the anxiety many of us develop over time – that maybe we have nothing in common with those we should be closest to.

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Tom Glover: A Glover Not a Fighter, PBH's Free Fringe @ Carnivore (The Vault), until 24 Aug, 6.20pm, PWYW