I have to admit to having not heard of the hugely successful Hollywood actor Robert Pattinson prior to seeing this Edinburgh preview at the Udderbelly/Southbank this evening. I guess I'm just not part of his demographic. However, having attended the Charlie Hartill Comedy Reserve at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, I have previously watched and been wholeheartedly impressed by my choice of comedy entertainment for this evening. I have therefore heard of Jack Whitehall. I think this would please Jack immensely.
Jack devotes much this cathartic hour recounting school-time anecdotes about his fellow pupil and nemesis. Often with the aid of Pattinson's biography, from which Jack recites, interjecting with personal recollections, which unsurprisingly paint a slightly less flattering picture.
This confessional style will be familiar to those who caught Jack's 2009 show, but this didn’t form the strongest material which he delivered this evening. The material seemed a little unfamiliar to him at times and he was I thought slightly thrown by an unfortunate heckle that accidentally revealed a punch line. Still, this is the raison d'être of a preview and I'm sure the central routine will be more than polished come August.
Jack was at his most fluent, confident and downright laugh-out-loud funny during his characterisations. There were several that had me in stitches. One had Jack imagining the scheming of the authors of his old French text book "Tricolor" who were devising content deliberately aimed at keeping les rosbifs away from their favourite parts of France. Jack apologised for being a bit 'Allo 'Allo in style, but it really was more cerebral than that. He has a natural gift for caricature and it really would be a treat to see Jack show this off more, possibly in a theatre production on the Fringe as other stand ups have done -a hint, Jack, for Augusts to come possibly?
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