Josh Glanc @ Gilded Balloon

A power fuelled showing from Glanc’s fake real man

Review by Stu Black | 10 Aug 2017

They say inside every musclebound freak is a dweeb trying to get out. But who are they? And why am I asking you? These kind of philosophical confusions are what becomes of those who try to grapple with the living paradox that is body-builder and testosterone-whisperer Dicky Rosenthal. He pouts his moustache and preens to classic gym rock, but underneath that unnaturally well-sculpted physique there seems to be someone needy and even a bit weedy.

Young Aussie comic Josh Glanc has created a very memorable character for his Fringe debut – funny on the surface but packed with pathos underneath. At times the audience doesn’t know what to make of him as he veers from the tough-talking inventor of pioneering protein drink Manfül (you don’t want to know what’s in it) to the painfully insecure Jewish geek he was before going buff. His struggles are hilarious in bursts and there is a phenomenal show in prospect here, but it feels a touch too early in its evolution to claim that it’s great. Glanc needs to lose some of the repetition and fill the moments between the feats and farts. It would be nice to get a bit more of Dicky’s back-story for example. There’s huge potential to pump this one up into a firm Fringe favourite.


Josh Glanc: Manfül Gilded Balloon, Teviot (Wee Room), 2-28 Aug (not 14), 9:30pm, £8-£11

Josh Glanc: Manfül Gilded Balloon, Teviot (Wee Room), 2-28 Aug (not 14), 9:30pm, £8-£11