Olaf Falafel @ Laughing Horse at The Pear Tree
Olaf Falafel returns to the Fringe with a high-calibre hour of silliness, buffoonery and general mucking about
With two shows this time around, Olaf Falafel has been a Fringe mainstay for years now; there’s seldom a list of ‘Fringe Jokes of The Year’ that don’t include one of his contributions. As I Used to Work... kicks off, the children’s author and stand-up immediately scans the audience to detect any audience members that don’t fulfill the '12+' age criteria. After finding several children scattered across the audience, instead of policing this, it turns into a routine. He goads the kids to lie about their age, while slipping a few new ‘safe swear words' into their vocabulary.
This essentially summarises the upcoming hour for Falafel. It isn’t entirely PG, but it’s certainly childish. It isn’t much longer until the comic has strapped a banana to his nose, adopted a vague European accent and is waggling a sausage attached to a fishing rod at the audience. You start to think that, maybe, this is going to be one of the sillier shows at the Fringe.
Falafel is shamelessly and joyfully daft, in a way that is genuinely refreshing and contrasts to other Fringe options. It’s a palette cleanser (or sorbet, as Falafel asserts) to have someone take so much glee in simple buffoonery. Using a packet of sausages as panpipes, squeezing an array of dog chew toys to the tune of Johan Strauss compositions, or catapulting Jason Statham’s severed third testicle through eight fiery rings, it is impossible not to get enraptured by Falafel's boundless whimsy.
It isn’t all prop comedy: there’s several of his trademark one-liners, an enactment of his viral ‘Cheese of Truth’ videos and a cameo from fellow Fringe luminary Mark Silcox. Whether he's riffing about Shakira, yoghurt pots or Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, Olaf Falafel is the crazy uncle that everyone wants to hang around. Don’t let the silly songs or absurd concepts fool you; mucking about of this calibre is no mean feat – and nobody plays the mischievous jester better than Olaf!
Olaf Falafel presents: I Used to Work in a Helium Balloon Factory Until They Let Me Go, Laughing Horse @ Pear Tree (Main Room), until 30 Aug (not 19), 2.30pm, free and unticketed – donations on exit