Simon Munnery @ The Stand

"That which can be measured can be managed". A quote of unresolved origin saved as a recurring business mantra, which underpins yet another wilfully obtuse Munnery offering.

In this instance, Munnery references the financial conundrum being a father to three children entails – their smartphone data requirements enforcing him, in turn, to take on a job at a local 'egg factory' as a cleaner.

What’s measurable is his salary (£8 an hour), but what is not is the concept of cleanliness itself, which exists at the atomic level, therefore unseeable – except for the oxymoronic (cow and idiot in Spanish, fact fans) notion that seeing cleanliness is the only way of judging it! Got all that? Good… this is the show… this is Simon Munnery, still railing against conspicuous tedium.

The other 'unseeable' in this comedic doyen’s presentation is the origins of the joke which forms the notional centrepiece of the show. It’s a good ‘un ('I went to a funeral the other day. Caught the wreath...'), but this is beside the point, as Munnery plays a complex game of 'Whose joke is it anyway?' which takes in disparaging chess with other comedians, and the concept of tickboxing, as opposed to box ticking. The Wreath is absorbing if at times enigmatic, offering from a seasoned pro.

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Simon Munnery: The Wreath, The Stand Comedy Club, 3-26 Aug (not 13), 3:20pm, £10-12

Scroll on to read more of The Skinny's 2018 Edinburgh Fringe comedy reviews; click here for a round-up of all the best reviews from this year's comedy and theatre programmes