Reginald D Hunter @ Assembly Hall
A strong start from Reginald D Hunter breaks down half-way through
Tales about shit, drugs, offensiveness and racism make up the bulk of Reginald D Hunter's show, which starts off promisingly. He begins by joking about how you can remove the power of taboo words by using them in ridiculous ways, like as descriptions for crisps, instead of losing a sense of humour. A woman, clearly unfamiliar with his work, walks out about three minutes in, offended by his use of the word retard, making his point for him.
There's strong material on Brexit and Trump, although not commenting on the horrific Charlottesville riots seems like a missed opportunity. A meeting with an older lady who “would have been a significant sexual threat in her day” was entertaining, while reminiscences about his 98 year old dad and wanting to make him proud are diverting enough, but finished off being a bit self-aggrandizing.
The show starts to break down a little after the halfway point, when Hunter starts asking how much time he has left and seems to have run out of material. A mild rant about Harper Lee lacks a decent punchline and there are several stories that feel like padding, particularly when he asks for how long he has left again.
Hunter is appearing with a broken leg in a wheelchair and is probably on a lot of painkillers, but unfortunately a significant portion of his show was not of the standard a Fringe audience should expect from a comic of his calibre.