Edinburgh 2022: Review: JANEANE GAROFALO: PARDON MY TANGENT, Gilded Balloon Teviot

Janeane Garofalo, famous for her roles in film and TV projects such as Ratatouille, Wet Hot American Summer and Seinfeld brings her critically acclaimed stand up comedy to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Although known for her charismatic performances within these projects, Garofalo brings a much more chilled out version of this to her stage show. Not that she isn't charismatic, just that she is much more subdued on stage.

Her hour of stand up is, most likely, one of the most unique stand up sets you will ever see, with Janeane simply walking around both the room and her stage rambling for the entire sixty minutes, jumping from subject to subject with seemingly no connecting tissue. This is even something that Garofalo herself acknowledges, stating that she isn't a standard comic with a beginning middle and end.

Throughout her ramblings there are a few pieces of material that don't work as well as the bit doesn't quite translate to British audiences or so. However, there are almost always laughs. Rarely big ones, usually just a small chuckle from the majority of the audience, but near constant laughter nonetheless. In this regard Garofalo's material could be compared to Steven Wright as much of her hour is filled with quick one-liners told in the bluntest of ways.

Within Garofalo's wondering set she focuses on the idea of cleaning your bathroom every day and her own philosophy of never going for physical checkup at the doctors. They seem like the rest of her ramblings, a small laugh and not much connecting tissue but come the end of the show Garofalo brings the two subjects together to tie things up neatly with her biggest laugh of her performance. It comes as a massive surprise and shows the true genius to Garofalo's style of humour. It may seem like the ramblings of a crazy comic but in actual fact there is a subtle throughline being crafted before your very eyes.

Garofalo's material may not get the biggest laughs and her show definitely won't be for everyone but come the end of her sixty minutes there is no denying the method behind the madness.

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