Tony Law performs his new show Identifies, at the Monkey Barrel Comedy Club at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. A madcap romp through the mind of a man who is struggling to reflect on his own heritage and whether it does, or even should mean anything.
Law opens with a raft of self-deprecation, which he then dissects faux-intelligently, leading us through why it is that we are finding it funny. This has become something of a fashion to reveal to the audience that the comedian knew it was a laugh and then explain to us why it is a laugh. This can lead to the feeling of being patronised or put out by the smugness of the comic – however, Tony Law does it with such joyous rebellion, often creasing up at his own bonkers hilarity, that you are with him all the way and the laughs just keep rolling in.
If any criticism is to be levelled, it is that Identifies, ironically, seems to still be searching for its home as an hour long show. There were some lulls in action and tangents that never quite found a punchline but you sense that you would never want the piece to become too clean and refined as that would stifle the very nature of the man behind the madness. Law himself certainly revels in the beautiful chaos and what is better than a comedian who is enjoying their work?
A man in his stride, Identifies is guaranteed to bring some hearty laughter to a midday crowd.
