Angela Barnes: You Can't Take it With You @ Pleasance Courtyard

Initially, Angela Barnes’ first solo stand-up show has all the hallmarks of your archetypal thirty-something Fringe debutant: single...check. Self-deprecating...check. Financially profligate... check.

But once you get to properly know Angela – and You Can’t Take it With You certainly allows that – it is clear that she has more to offer than many of her cohorts. Though brimming with energy and carefully-constructed humour, Barnes' material at times can fall flat due to a combination of safe subjects and predictable punchlines.

The show’s inspiration is taken from her sex shop-owning father’s death, and recounts the innumerable times that he embarrassed her, from unveiling unusual instruments at parents’ night, to allowing her to perform awkward dance routines to Status Quo as a child. Evident from the beginning though is that Barnes, who provides quick wit in abundance, is grateful for all that her dad did for her; getting all of life’s humiliation out of the way early-doors to clear the path for a stab at stand-up.

Anecdotes then followd by a main pay-off form the crux of the show, in a structure that cultivates laughter even though Barnes tends to tread well-worn territory with subject matter. Quips about young people sending poetry rather than sexting and how old age is the best time to indulge in drugs, are as well-executed as they are perceptive. One major drawback of the show, however, is its lack of spontaneity, as even Barnes herself at one point admits that the audience are ahead of her.

Barnes undoubtedly has a knack for delivering solid jokes at a steady pace, but pedestrian topics and a refusal to inject any absurdity or menace into proceedings make the show feel that bit too rigid. To fulfil the promise apparent in her debut show, Barnes might well want to deviate rather than talk of deviance.