James Adomian @ Gilded Balloon
A wasted hour from a talented comedian
James Adomian seems to have arrived in Edinburgh with plenty of routines but not much of a show. And this would be fine, but he fumbles a bit with the hour trying to work out which bits travel best – will his experiences in Antwerp land well with a European crowd?
Usually his material does OK, and it wouldn't be a huge issue if this were a work-in-progress, or Adomian was doing a tight ten or 20 minute set. But he isn't and saying there isn't a theme at the start – as if that's the only way to do an Edinburgh show – doesn't really justify turning up at the Gilded Balloon and rolling out references to George W Bush like it's 15 years ago. Although Dubya does allow Adomian into an avenue of nostalgia for where the Republican right used to be, but he never stops off at these ideas very long.
Other material is unremarkable: the English always playing bad guys in movies, patterns he's noticed on social media and a few national stereotypes. It's frustrating because when Adomian is good, he's very good. He has an eye for characterisation, such as one detail in clothing that suggests a breakdown of law and order on a bus ride. And he can challenge liberal ideas too: a neat dissection of the homophobic sting in the tail that Europeans sometimes express despite wishing to seem progressive. But, it only leaves a feeling of what Adomian could have done with an hour on this platform had he pulled his socks up and thought this show through.