Tom Binns: Has Not Been Himself

It must be comforting bringing a new standup show to the Fringe that has its own inbuilt safety net. Tom Binns has recently come over all Mike Yarwood, the hugely popular 1970s impressionist who’d infamously end his shows by saying "and this is me," then launching into a song. At which point viewers lurched for the kettle.

Over the last couple of years Binns has been edging aside his two hugely popular creations, the hapless hospital radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury, and the oddly impressive medium Ian D Montfort, in favour of traditional standup. He hasn’t quite cut the character apron strings, however.

Both Brackenbury and De Montfort bag a decent chunk of this set, and both are still wickedly funny – and bewilderingly clever in de Montfort’s case, even when shorn of his usual gladrags. The section doesn’t feel too shoehorned in, as it follows a spot in which Binns explains how the medium character came about: chiefly as a way to discredit such charlatans.

His own standup is a bit too traditional, in truth, much of it spent gently dissing his wife, albeit affectionately. The other main protagonist is Binns’ "little devil", an alter-ego that keeps making him say inappropriate things, several of which got him fired from radio jobs. There is still a sense of the daytime FM jock about his polished delivery—and his curiously ‘80s hairdo—yet while the gags and stories are relatively strong, they’ll never get the belly laughs that greet Brackenbury’s show-closing set. He's been outshone by his own creation.