★★★★★
Seann Walsh for me, is one of those names who I feel should have hit the big time by now. But for some reason this hasn't quite happened.
Sure, he's a well-known name and face and regularly appears on panel shows, he's a regular on ITV's rather dull Play To The Whistle not to mention that Comedy Central sitcom he did. No really, I'm not going to mention it.
He might have been away from the Fringe for two years, but he's been busy preparing One For The Road, which he's premiering at the Pleasance Cabaret Bar at the Fringe before taking it on tour later this year.
Despite coming out to a very small ripple of applause as his mic wasn't working backstage so the announcement that he was coming on wasn't heard by anyone and complaining about the pillar on stage ("Michael McIntyre doesn't have a pillar on stage. I've been on Live At The Apollo!" what followed was an hour of outstanding observational comedy.
If Brexit is a clear theme at the Fringe this year, then so is clean eating - a topic which Seann talks about. He reminisces back to a time where he had a fridge which he could open and shove a Kit Kat and some ham into his mouth at the same time. All this has changed now that his girlfriend is into "juicing" and has a spiraliser (courgetti anyone?) and he confesses to shouting "Get in!" when he managed to cut an avocado perfectly.
"Avocado" he says is an Essex girl's response to being told to walk... "I have a car though". Get it? It's more one to hear out loud but it warmed up the audience and he was on fire from there on in.
Eating out is something Seann now does a lot of, and it's talking about this where his skills as an observational comic really came into play. I think I actually cried with laughter watching him trying to get the waiter's attention to ask for the bill.
Why? Because it's something which we can all relate to, and I think it's so important for a comedian to connect with their audience. He also does this with boxsets. Boxsets are the new drinking according Seann, and God forbid you should ever watch ahead ahead, or worse still... watch a DVD. Who changes the disc?!
Not necessarily part of his routine, but when he requested for his mic levels to be turned up he transformed into Alan Partridge... an impression he does very well.
Having "learnt the keyboard" since he's been away, he ends the show with a song, Goodbye To Youth, which sums up very neatly the past hour with the help of visuals projected onto the curtain behind him.
One For The Road is observational comedy at its very best. Stand-up is where Seann belongs, he's comfortable up on that stage and his observations are spot on.
Perhaps a world of TV isn't for him, unless it's him doing stand-up on shows such as Live At The Apollo. Although not The Royal Variety Performance, which Seann told us went terribly. Nobody laughed and afterward he revealed that Prince Charles told him "Don't worry about them. Stiffs."
If ever a comedian wanted to learn how to do observational comedy, I urge them to watch Seann Walsh. He really is brilliant.