Rhod Gilbert

39658 original

Life can be pretty miserable when you grow up in the kind of small town where the abscence of anything happening constitutes a good day. But it can be made all the more depressing when that boring little town is the product of your own imagination. Such is the problem for Rhod Gilbert, who returns to Edinburgh with his new show, Who’s Eaten Gilbert’s Grape?

Hiijacking the plot of a certain 90's movie, last year’s if.comEddies nominee narrates his own mundane and lonely existence in the fictional town of Llanbobl to hilarious effect. The hour-long set is filled with a sidesplitting amount of self-loathing and a healthy hatred of the ageing process – the moment when Gilbert realises that, at nearly 40, his genitalia are older than the Sydney Opera House has the audience in stiches.

Gilbert’s energetic and dynamic performance makes the supposedly dull moments of his life fascinating. Unsettling, perhaps, is Gilbert's slightly unconvincing claim that his story is wholly fictitious – the man might need a bit more sympathy and a lot more therapy than he lets on.