Alun Cochrane is a Daydreamer (at night) at Edinburgh Fringe: Review

With its bizarre determination to actually pay its acts for performing on its well-trodden boards, The Stand has become a popular choice for the more seasoned gentleman humorist – not so desperate as to sell himself cheaply in the saunas of the Pleasance. A scrawny thirty-something with a face that looks like it’s got a tale or two to tell, Alun Cochrane fits snugly into The Stand’s world-weary aesthetic.

Having meandered his way through the last year of his life, the comic has stumbled upon daydreaming as the fairly arbitrary theme for this year’s show. Being of a certain genre of comedian for whom the tightly written set is somewhat anathema, Cochrane’s conversational introduction does mean that things are a little slow to get up and running. But once into his flow, this is comedy club humour at its best.

Funniest when worked up into a slobbering frenzy over know-it-all parents or lazy critics, one can’t help but feel these moments are a little too few and far between. That’s not to say that Cochrane’s more chatty material doesn’t deserve praise, just that the overall shape of the show could do with some more ups and downs to keep the pace up for the slightly sozzled late night audience.

Although a classy set from a comic professional with a sizable following, it feels too comfortably within Cochrane’s range to merit more superlatives. A hugely likeable performer on the cusp of comic ubiquity, it can only be hoped that a more daring show in 2010 will propel him to greater heights.