Vittorio Angelone @ Monkey Barrel

Vittorio Angelone spends the first ten minutes of his sophomore act breaking down its bafflingly hilarious title Who Do You Think You Are? I Am!. He explains, with an almost goofy candidness, that he plucked it straight from a viral YouTube video that turned out to be not so viral after all. It helps the few members of the crowd that don’t already know of Angelone (thanks to his own virality) understand immediately the kind of man he is. That is to say: charming, a bit silly, and able to pinpoint then hammer out a very niche situation until it becomes hysterical.

So, we understand who Angelone is, but does he? According to this routine, that’s what he’s been trying to figure out. Somewhere between suppressing his emotions for much of his life and now, waiting to find out if he has autism, Angelone has lost (or has never really had) his sense of self. Or, at least, that is the framework Angelone offers us. What ensues is an hour of back-to-basics stand-up, and it is this, it seems, that the Edinburgh Fringe has been craving. There is no self-indulgence here, no emotional rollercoaster, just back-to-back jokes that consistently deliver.

What’s truly exciting about this routine is Angelone’s impeccable ability to begin the set-up of what feels like a joke teetering on the edge of political incorrectness, leading the audience down a route that is familiar yet exhilaratingly so, then sidelining us with a punchline equally as naughty but entirely unexpected. Angelone isn’t afraid to push boundaries, and since the goalposts of acceptability are constantly changing, he delivers a routine that revels in a heady shock factor.

That isn’t to say that Angelone is problematic. In fact, despite his self-proclaimed lack of identity, Angelone is incredibly self-aware. He gives, but he can also take, and frequently does. He handles hecklers with whip-smart confidence and ease (something he exudes in bucketloads, by the way; he does the whole thing in crocs). Whoever Angelone turns out to be, we hope he stays exactly the same.

---

Vittorio Angelone: Who Do You Think You Are? I Am!, Monkey Barrel Comedy (MB4), until 27 Aug, 6.25pm, sold out; Assembly George Square (Gordon Aikman Theatre), 23 Aug, 8.50pm, £10