The Hive
29 July – 25 Aug (20:30)
‘Trauma shows’ have been a mainstay of the Fringe over the last few years, from Richard Gadd and Baby Reindeer to Jonny Pelham and Sofie Hagen. Sometimes described as ‘awards bait’, sometimes lauded as groundbreaking, they inevitably generate PR and highlight social issues. In 2025 however, sometimes what all we really want, and need, is an hour spent laughing. Carl Donnelly, for personal reasons, has chosen to go with the latter. Entering Monkey Barrell 1 our host wanders past and gives a cheery ‘alright mate?’ to each of tonight’s crowd, and this sets the tone for an hour of ripping yarns and lighthearted reflections on some of our current age’s minor irritations and cultural curiosities.
‘I actually had a pretty harrowing end to last year,’ Carl Donnelly explains as he introduces the show, ‘actually I’ve had quite a lot of fairly traumatic stuff happen over the last three years, and I had a whole show written about it, and then I thought, na, I don’t want to be reliving that stuff every day for a month!’ At this, he peals off into a hearty laugh which we get quite accustomed to over the course of the next hour.
Carl Donnelly ‘really’ loves doing stand-up, and it shows. There are very loose themes running through the show, it is however mainly just fantastic jokes, and very funny anecdotes, which all happen to relate to him having hit middle age, being in a very happy long-term relationship, and being a father. If this suggests mellowness or mundanity, then neither could be further from the truth. Despite the fact that I clock one solitary swear word throughout the entire set, laughs are wrung from ‘trauma-envy’, surgical procedures, morning drinking, social media influencers and emotionally distant parents.
The laissez faire audience bantering, and literally laugh a minute delivery made it, I’ll be honest, quite hard to commit to writing notes through. His uniquely high-status self-deprecation makes him fantastic company, and allows him to describe enviable travel anecdotes and comfortable middle class minor irritations without ever coming across as superior, let alone smug. Standout sections include a hunt for a Keralan speakeasy, sports as lingua franca, some fantastic physical humour and (literally) gut wrenching laughs whilst describing the ‘ins and outs’ of middle aged medical procedures, and a distinctly rosy spin on one of those ‘harrowing situations’ he described in his intro.
This is a show for anyone who likes comedy, anyone who wants to laugh out loud, non-stop, for an hour, anyone who needs a bit of cheer and wants to leave a show with a smile on their face, or simply anyone who wants to see a comedian using their 20+ years of experience to show the punters a good time. Carl Donnelly is a comedian at the top of his game, and a guaranteed winner if you’re trying to pick a five star show which everyone will love. ‘Another round’?, yes please.
Ewan Law
themumble.uk 