David Longley: My Favourite Things

David Longley is disillusioned with the Fringe but loves comedy. He's sick to death of his kids, and yet he loves them as much as any father could. This cognitive dissonance forms the core of Longley's show, but if you're worried this sounds a bit high brow then his opening animation should convince you otherwise...

Longley isn't afraid to confront subjects others would body-swerve completely: he's a brutally honest everyman whose informal rapport with his audience enables him to delve into issues of race, sexual infidelity and death with confidence and a degree of maturity not present in comedians without a point to make. And he does indeed have a point: a routine involving the "harmless racism" of his Indian best friend is at first shocking but properly thought provoking as the implications become clear.

Thematically, he does struggle sometimes to balance the aforementioned dissonance. The flippancy with which he switches between, for example, a serious study on the death of a loved one and a throwaway musical gag can be jarring, but as part of the whole it's perfectly representative. While he doesn't really force his own conclusions down the audiences throats, he's certainly given them enough to think about.  Challenging, puerile, brutal and hilarious. How's that for dissonance?