★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Whilst Eshaan is hugely likeable, his second hour felt more educational than it did entertaining.
Eshaan Akbar turned his back on banking and has been performing comedy for four years and following his 2017 sell-out debut, returns to the Fringe this year with Prophet Like It's Hot, a title equally as punny as his debut Not For Prophet.
In a nod to this year's title, Eshaan walks on stage to a reworking of Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like It's Hot and explains how he believes Islam is currently going through a PR crisis.
Eshaan, a self-declared "Gold Standard lapsed Muslim", spends the hour reading passages from the Quran as he works his way through the five pillars of the faith and educates us on Islam.
Certain gags such as reading the Quran from back to front, his love of beer and bacon and becoming racist going through airport security landed particularly well but whilst Eshaan is hugely likeable, his second hour felt more educational than it did entertaining.
Eshaan's poignant ending, in which he opens up about his mother's death and the way it has made him think and feel is to be admired, and a real highlight of the hour. I just wish that before we'd got to that stage we had laughed more.
Eshaan Akbar: Prophet Like it's Hot runs until 26th August at 2:45pm at The Gilded Balloon (Balcony). Book tickets here.
(This review was based on the performance from Friday 17th August 2018)