EDINBURGH 2019: Review: DARIUS DAVIES: PERSIAN OF INTEREST, Just the Tonic at The Tron
In a selfless act of public service, Anglo-Iranian comedian Darius will show you how easy it is to beat the system and avoid media manipulation in our agenda-driven, technology-obsessed, modern society.
Persian of Interest is a rare gem of the 2019 Fringe - an hour of topical comedy that manages to be funny, relevant and timely without dragging jokes back to the looming monoliths of Brexit and Trump.
Davies crams a lot into an hour of rapid-fire comedy, from how to get your favourite online services for free to sussing out fake news, via the existential dread caused by captcha checks.
The power of social media proves to be fertile ground for Davies. It's a brave comedian who will put his negative audience reviews up on screen, but a set on the aggressive social media campaign led by disruptive tourists turfed out of a previous Fringe show gains more than enough laughs to dispute their claims.
Davies is fond of a social experiment, and other sets include his attempts at catfishing on Tinder and relating how he managed to change internal policy at BBC News through a desire for petty vengeance at bad customer service. Some of the material has appeared before in his previous Fringe shows, but it's brought together here in a confident, cohesive whole, suggesting Davies is finding his maturity as a comedian.
His anti-authoritarian, "sticking it to the man" persona goes down well with a diverse Saturday crowd and his increasingly well-structured style keeps them laughing for the full hour (provided they can stomach a montage of Tinder-sourced dick pics).
For those looking for a laugh-packed hour of contemporary comedy, Darius Davies' latest offering will certainly be "of interest".
Darius Davies: Persian of Interest is at Just the Tonic at The Tron until 25 August.
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