Kevin J – The Urban Truth @ The Counting House

Straight from the mean streets of Tottenham High Road, Kevin J is loosing his Fringe virginity in the attic room of Laughing Horse’s Counting House. Though, unlike most first-timers, it’s set to be a good one. J is a natural comic, and an experienced one (having played everywhere from London to Africa), he’d have no trouble filling a bigger room.

Capitalising on an audience-member blunder at the top of the show, he immediately gets the room on side. His colourful depictions of life on a notorious London council estate has everyone in fits, and a gag about a plane ride goes down a storm. It’s observational insight at it’s best, and he doesn’t miss a beat. The gags are relentless, delivered with energy and build to a deftly-orchestrated crescendo as the show progresses.

It’s old fashioned straight stand up, but when you can even make taking a cardigan off that funny, who cares? J’s material is accessible even to those of us who grew up far away; his skill lies in his ability to paint a ludicrous fresco in the mind of the punter. A comic of this calibre should be doing a lot more than a half hour. It’s short, it’s sweet and rammed full of laughs – we just need more of ‘em.