Chris Coltrane: Compassion is Subversive

Chris Coltrane is back in Edinburgh with his second hour-long poke at our perfunctory political leanings. Unlike your average jobbing comic, his sights are set on something much bigger – sure an unblemished sweep of five-stars would be dandy, but wouldn’t changing the world be better? No? Okay, I’ll get on to the stars, then.

Despite sounding like an art college electro band, Compassion is Subversive is mercifully devoid of artistic pretentiousness, or as us lay people call it: wankery. This is a solid hour. One that Coltrane shrewdly uses to raise big political, unabashedly lefty ideas, while still giving you the giggle-induced face-ache. He’s a remarkably perky sort; the kind who might grate if his ideas weren’t brilliant, though it seems he’s found the perfect formula: stereotypically dull subject matter x chirpy comedian = riotously funny. He’s so hot for social justice, I’m surprised he’s not wearing his pants on the outside.

This is not a throwaway Fringe experience; Coltrane is expertly using his (snazzy) comedian's hat to play interpreter. It’s political comedy, yes, but a sort that is far more bearable than that of the usual righty-bashers wearing their tofu hearts on their organic hemp sleeves. At times it feels a little Big Smoke-centric, but the clarity of his ideas is something we can all get behind.

Coltrane dresses ideology in wit, leaving you mobilised and asking questions. If comedy is an art form defined by its reaction, I reckon he’s doing pretty well.