RANDY IS SOBER

RANDY

RANDY IS SOBER

Umbrella Revolution

Garden of Unearthly Delights

Sun Mar 4 - one show only.

It seems a bit weird that a purple puppet with a head like a testicle would deliver one of this Fringe's most fantastic shows. But that's exactly what Randy (usually seen with his human partner Sammy J) has done with his Randy is Sober. Sounds like for a puppet Randy was quite the drinker and when he gave up the firewater, he decided that wouldn't be hard enough by itself, so he gave up smoking and embarked on a long distance relationship all at once. He was already a vegetarian.

A near full house is completely captivated by Randy from the second he appears on stage (obviously he doesn't 'walk' on stage) and for a full hour he has us in stiches with his rapid-fire, hilarious material, dance moves and the slightest tilt of the head. His impersonation of Stephen Hawkings one of the piss-funniest things I have seen this Fringe. His audience interaction is priceless. "Am I looking at you? These eyes don't work!" and unscheduled biology lesson ("You all know where the perineum is right?", "Nipples?", horrified Randy "I think it's just as well we're having this little chat") is fantastic. The show itself is the story of his journey to sobriety and a bit of a love story to his lush days gone by.

You forget that Randy is a puppet, even when he is reminding you. And the fact that he is so captivating is all down to his close friend Heath McIvor, who is pretty much a frickin' genius. A puppeteer par excellence, with impeccable comic timing, lightning fast reflexes and great material McIvor breathes more than life into his purple protégé. An hour whizzes by way too fast.

Ian Bell