Fringe Comedy Reviews: The Hive Mind

Known locally as ‘The Dive’, this working nightclub has the sticky floors, seedy vibes and all-day stench of Red Bull and regret from many a night out on the tiles. In Bob Slayer’s Heroes of the Hive it also has one of the best line-ups of any venue, and the most sensible payment structure of any of the Free Fringe (pay £5 to reserve a seat, or chance it and pay what you want at the end). First up is Ali Brice with Eric Meat Has No Proof, Only Memories of Pasta [★★★☆☆], a whodunit that takes in a mix of audience participation, ridiculous characters and insane props. The titular Eric Meat is out to find the girlfriend who has left him and the only logical conclusion he can gather is that she has been kidnapped. He enlists a member of the crowd to be his sidekick and embarks on a wild odyssey of apple farmers, the creepiest harlequin you’ll ever see and some sort of spaghetti monster. Brice’s crowd work is as commendable as his wide expanse of characters. Though the jokes and bits may not all land, the show is a great deal of silly fun and the ramshackle props manage to carry Eric Meat to a satisfying conclusion.

Another abstract comedian, as The Hive seems to thrive upon them, Michael Brunström continues the nonsensical theme begun by Brice. With The Golden Age of Steam [★★☆☆☆], though, there’s much less structure. His clowning antics are somewhat inspired – a rather impressive knack for hula-hooping while recounting Shakespeare is a nice juxtaposition – and the more inspired parts are reminiscent of early Reeves and Mortimer hijinks. However, this inevitably leads nowhere and Brunstrom takes great pride in letting the audience know that there is no greater meaning behind his work. A shame really as it leads each set piece to fizzle out rather than exploding into applause.

Low-key to the point of general apathy, Fringe veteran Ed Aczel returns once more with The Random Flappings of a Butterfly’s Wings [★★★☆☆], a show that lacks energy to the extent that a widening of Aczel’s eyes can evoke raucous laughter. You get the feeling the ageing stand-up would rather be somewhere else but you can’t be sure where that might be. Judging by the historical and scientific facts he reels out in an abstract FAQ section at the end, it might be the local library. Early on he offers in his slow drawl that he will 'try at all costs to not make you realise the show is all filler,' which may well be the case but Aczel is a genial host who can turn the most humdrum of sentences – for instance, his crowd work includes asking people what broadband they had – into hilarity just by his sheer unwillingness to conform.

Tim Renkow also arches over the line as often as possible in a bid to offend as many people as he can. Never using his cerebral palsy as a crutch (in fact he has a real distaste for crutches both literal and figurative), Renkow opens with gags about urinating on babies in new show Kim Jong Un, Muhammad, Jesus and Other Power Hungry Maniacs [★★★★☆]. Going further than most with his bear-baiting of all religions and ethnicities, his place in the world as a disabled, Mexican Jew grants him access to all manner of unexplored avenues of offence – avenues he has no problem going down; he is unafraid of any comeuppance and almost invites controversy.

Further offence is thrown next door by Canadian Bobby Mair, who seems much more comfortable berating the crowd than doling out anecdotes. In Filthy Immigrant [★★★★☆], Mair is on fine form when laying into late-comers or hoity gentlemen from Stafford, pushing the crowd away while also managing to keep them onside. It’s in the gaps between set-ups that he seems to momentarily lapse, a pause that sometimes loses the momentum he builds with whip-smart material. What Mair has to say, though, is so well written that any such problems are swiftly forgotten, and everyone can get on with laughing at his warped ideas about unicyclists, a monkey with a selfie stick and the unattainable happiness of a KFC onanist.

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Ali Brice presents: Eric Meat Has No Proof, Only Memories of Pasta, Heroes @ The Hive, until 30 Aug, 1.30pm, £5

Michael Brunström: The Golden Age of Steam, run ended

Ed Aczel: The Random Flappings of a Butterfly’s Wings, Heroes @ The Hive, until 30 Aug, 5.30pm, £6

Tim Renkow: Kim Jong-Un, Muhammad, Jesus and Other Power Hungry Maniacs, Heroes @ The Hive, until 31 Aug (not 26), 7.50pm, £5

Bobby Mair, Filthy Immigrant, Heroes @ The Hive, until 31 Aug, 8.50pm, £4-5

For a full line-up of all shows currently at Heroes @ The Hive visit heroesoffringe.com