Lou Wall @ Pleasance Courtyard

2023 was the worst year of Lou Wall’s life. They broke up with their long term partner, started hooking up with ‘chucklefuckers’, and had to contend with Eileen from Facebook Marketplace. To keep themselves going, Wall compiled a list of things which made them laugh, drawing parallels with Gillian Cosgriff’s Actually, Good from last Fringe, by way of the techy wizardry of Mat Ewins, with a hefty Gen-Z update.

Viral videos hurtle past as Wall punches across screens from one side of the stage to the other, crooning through too-mad-not-to-be-true anecdotes, dumb pranks and giving short, sharp screams off-mic to enhance their fervent fury.

Somehow, Wall has managed to capture the essence of being terminally online without just streaming their social media as they scroll. The comic deftly weaves familiar viral videos with screenshots, online interactions and personal photos which ought to go viral (Grandad’s gallery, crying selfies). There’s a sort of ‘unhinging your jaw and letting the internet flow out of your mouth’ torrent of content, which could be overwhelming if Wall didn’t seem so genuine and present. You cling to them, their journey and the rollercoaster which has been their past year, with each roadbump being as fleeting as a meme on your feed, whilst callbacks to prior incidents embody the unshakeable permanence of the internet.

Wall’s content is perfectly curated and well-paced given the hyperspeed which social media and virality encourages. Each clip, gag and significant milestone gets time to breathe. When Wall makes a significant reveal, there’s a palpable tension, but it’s not made into a ‘thing’. It’s simply context in order to inform another gag-heavy section of the show. In an impressive, tech-heavy hour, Lou Wall has done the unimaginable – make people who love to be on their phone swap a screen for a stage.

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Lou Wall: The Bisexual's Lament, Pleasance Courtyard (Beneath), until 25 Aug (not 15), 10.20pm, £10-15