Felix Dexter - Not Just Another White Guy Lost In The Shuffle

Given the frightening levels of nutjob Fringe-liberalism on display in Edinburgh come festival season, it’s ironic that I have the Conservative Party to thank for one of the worst shows I've ever seen. Without the blue-bloods and their tabloid backers tilting like mad Spaniards at the windmill of so-called political correctness, Felix Dexter wouldn’t have any material.

Dexter doesn’t believe in political correctness. Neither do I, but in the same way I don’t believe in the tooth fairy.

He seems at ease putting forward his crass, bigoted view of a black man’s place in society. It’s not the caricatures that are offensive – he is, after all, almost the only black person in the room, and therefore the authority on how young black men talk and act.

That said, he admits to a middle class upbringing in Surrey: “the hardest choice we had to make was between quiche Lorraine and salmon en croute.”

Regardless, since cultural stereotypes are always amusing, Dexter’s rants in eubonics are the only comedy in the act.

Mimicking Trevor Macdonald’s voice, Dexter suggests that success and ethnicity are irreconcileable; “I mean, is there a black man in there?” Blacks also don’t mix well in the legal profession, the Royal Shakespeare Company, or Dundee. Perhaps they should stay home.

Maybe Dexter should, too. “I wasn’t expecting a portakabin with tents on top,” says a latecomer, when challenged.

“That’s the best line I’ll hear all festival,” Dexter responds – from this show, definitely.