Nathaniel Metcalfe: Enthusiast

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"That song gets in my head every fucking time I see it," complains one of the Cabaret Voltaire staff shortly after Nathaniel Metcalfe steps offstage. It’s a fair point. An all-day earworm is one downside of seeing the Carlisle-born comic's first full Fringe show, which he closes by singing—then playing over the PA, then singing again—one insanely catchy, rightly obscure movie theme.

Still, it's a chirpy little number, as is our host. This particular afternoon his subterranean cave is hampered by both someone drilling outside and faulty speakers, but where another comic might fume and flounder, Metcalfe’s relentless positivity remains intact. Which is a prerequisite, really, given the show’s theme.

In essence his material is of the much-derided ‘mentioning old kids TV shows’ strand, but rather than just take the piss out of Art Attack, he explores leftfield new levels of fandom, becoming obsessed with host Neil Buchanan’s pre-telly rock band, Marseille, which allows for numerous props and callbacks along the way. Visual stimuli are certainly a help when it sounds like your room is being tunneled into.

Metcalfe’s love of repetition garnered a misguided reference to Stewart Lee among his publicity quotes. Close, as actually he’s hugely reminiscent of a young Richard Herring: the tucked-in early-90s look, naively upbeat style, even that ‘I’m a little teapot’ spare-arm position. No greatest hits DVD—as Herring is giving away this year—but then many of his best bits are clearly worked into this show, and skillfully so. An impressively assured debut.