Ivo Graham @ Pleasance Courtyard

Life lessons from Comedy Award nominee Ivo Graham in a show that's slick and quick, but his material doesn't leave you much to ponder

Review by Thomas Hamill | 26 Aug 2019
  • Ivo Graham

Hurtling out of the starting gate, Graham’s hour brings us up to speed on his 2019, with having a baby and getting a millennial railcard among the highlights. His comedy persona’s prudishness allows him to treat subject matter with an ironic sensibility. This is typified in his bit about appearing on ITV2’s Don’t Hate the Playaz but is an integral part of his persona throughout as he drops in various youth-isms that contrast well with his Etonian background.

He’s quick and slick with his words; each joke is neatly established and even more neatly knocked down, like a pop-up gin bar. His rally of starting material wins the room over promptly and his quick read of the room and impressive audience interaction cements him being in full control. His observations are clear cut and for the most part pretty generic; his material on the lead up to the birth of his child, for example, is tidy but his asides provide perhaps the more interesting parts of the show.

While the material is all well and good in and of itself, it feels a shame that the show ends on a more flimsy bit of material (hinted at throughout). We get a sense of where Graham’s at in life but as he coasts through the hour, his overtly constructed material leaves little to linger on once the lights go up.


Ivo Graham: The Game of Life, Pleasance Courtyard (Forth), until 25th Aug, 7pm, £10-£12