David Elms: Goody Boy

Midway through his show, David Elms complains that one of his best gags has been ruined by a reviewer who gave away the punchline. So I'll avoid doing that here. Indeed, there's not many punchlines to give away as his comedy is not primarily gag-based. He's a slow-burn, hesitant performer who's electrifying to watch in his simplicity. He appears to be thinking through his jokes at the same time as his audience, in a show that is clearly far more planned than it pretends. The occasional comic song reveals a studied playfulness, and there is audience participation which balances gentle ribbing with a sweet inclusivity. It's a show that can be relaxed into yet requires engaged concentration for its subtleties to be unearthed.

The show is ostensibly about Elms's marriage, and is a love letter to his wife. But in his mangling of metaphors intended to illuminate wedlock he subtly but consistently hints at the institution's imprisoning tendencies. Such fare could seem quite trite, but it's worked through using a thoughtful simplicity that means it never gets near to laddish humour criticising harridan wives. As the show's title suggests, Elms is a good person, and he repeatedly reflects on his own persona, delineating between that he presents onstage and how he is in real life off it. It takes real skill to reveal the prickliness that can lie beneath niceness. In a Fringe crowded with bombastic attention seekers here's a quiet man who deserves attention.