★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This year, Terry Alderton returns to the Fringe after three years away with a brand new show All Crazy Now.
When I interviewed Terry in July and asked him about this year's show he said "Just leave everything you know at the door and come in." and I did. I genuinely didn't know what to what to expect, other than not to expect the normal. I knew to be open minded and leave any worries or politics outside. And it did me the world of good.
Sometimes being daft is better than being clever and there's no better proof of this than Terry Alderton's 2017 Fringe show, All Crazy Now.
Now that's not to belittle what he does. Of course his hour is still crafted and carefully put together and the feeling of looseness it has is no mean feat, but what I mean by "being clever" is that he's not trying to say something. Terry mentions Brexit in passing (blink and you miss it) where as other comedians would write a 20 minute speech on the topic.
Unfortunately, Terry Alderton wasn't actually there for the first fifteen minutes or so of the hour as he was "stuck in a loop", so instead we were treated to The Two Johns, a duo made up of Johnny Spurling and a guy who looks suspiciously like Terry in a wig.
They began their bizarre but hugely entertaining set with a song called Chops Not Ham, which believe me, will be stuck in your head for days. And the meat theme continues when Terry Alderton does decide to turn up.
At several points throughout the show we're treated to a song which I can only imagine is called Sausages and when Johnny Spurling returns to the stage, the pair perform quite possibly the funniest gag of the evening involving pole-vaulting a chicken.
With so many gags packed into the hour Terry doesn't give an audience time to stop laughing and the linger the show goes on for, the more bizarre it gets. But what I love about the Fringe is that audiences just go with it. They're not snobbish. If there's a man on stage doing a handstand whilst his trainers talk, they'll lap it up. God bless Edinburgh.
Terry's not trying to change the world. He's purely trying to entertain and if that really was his one mission, he passed with flying colours. And if ever I'm feeling down, I know that turning to a Terry Alderton gig is bound to sort me right out.
All Crazy Now is fast-paced and full of gags that doesn't allow you to stop laughing and I enjoyed it so much, that I might go again.