EDINBURGH 2018 - Review: (NO) MONEY IN THE BANK, Sweet Novotel

Thom Bee is a wrestling fan who wants to share his passion for the art of the squared circle with Edinburgh audiences. He does this with the aid of comedy tag-team partner Balthazar Dark (Andrew Marsh), whose career failures have led him to something of an existential crisis.

Niche nerdy shows are now a regular feature at the Fringe, from improvised Doctor Who episodes to live-action video games, and wrestling provides a rich seam of exaggerated characters and farfetched stories to mine for comic purposes.

On this occasion however, the performers of (No) Money In The Bank need to take more inspiration from the crème de la crème of sports entertainment. Successful wrestlers do not necessarily have to be the biggest, the strongest or the most technical, but they must be fully confident in themselves and their work, as the unlikely success of Scotland's own Grado demonstrates.

There are a few good ideas here, but they do not pay off as they could, and that is largely down to a lack of confidence in the presentation.

For example, Bee's self-deprecation as an underemployed, weedy, unfortunate Rolf Harris lookalike provides some of the better material, but he constantly self-sabotages with (likely nerve-fuelled) commentary on the construction and reception of his sets.

Balthazar Dark occasionally tags in for meandering road stories that rarely garnered more than an awkward chuckle.

Where there are stronger portions - some decent puns and nods to the absurdity of wrestling characters - there often follow missed opportunities. A joke on wrestlers taking their characters from jobs seems an obvious link to Bee's other material about previous unsuccessful jobs, or could go further into the ridiculous possibilities of what characters the modern economy could inspire. Punchlines needed more telegraphing, with some jokes not quite registering until the show had already moved on.

Bee shows some sensible comic savvy in trying to warm up the crowd, and wrestling fans as a species are keen on shouting out catchphrases on cue, but overuse of this forced interaction through the show sees the audience's indulgence wearing thin without being given more punchlines to fuel them.

Overall, there are the seeds of some ability here, but the comedians need more development in their material and presentation before they are ready to lay the smackdown on their competition.

(No) Money In The Bank is at Sweet Novotel until 26 August

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