Sam Fletcher: Good on Paper

Sam Fletcher is good on paper, but in the flesh his debut solo show is a rather confusing mix of tremendously silly inventions and frustratingly unexplored ideas. Most of his time is spent at his drawing pad talking us through his inventions, including the hands-free toothbrush or the alarm bed. All of which he makes funnier than they sound, but he quickly runs out. He then resorts to what he admits himself are nothing more than ‘dad jokes’ and failed magic tricks, which are terribly boring.

This hour could be so much more. Fletcher alludes several times to his girlfriend leaving him, routinely acknowledges a lack of audience response and has a mini tantrum over a technical failing. Despite his insistence otherwise there seems to be the basis of a stage character in here.

This is an unexplored level to the show, and I really wanted this material to be intentionally rubbish as a build up to something much smarter. Unfortunately he just stumbles close to this before turning back to his tiring song and dance routine. Fletcher has some neatly subversive ideas and a great ending but this show is sorely lacking material. With a bit more experience there’s no doubting he could be very good though.