Sammy J: Hero Complex at Underbelly Bristo Square

It’s been twelve, yes, twelve whole years since this slightly geeky but very funny skinny man graced Scotland’s capital with his “whiplash smart humour” and “endlessly creative talent”. But fear not as for the first twelve, yes, twelve days of this very festival, Edinburgh’s true protagonist is back to save it once and for all. This is Sammy J: Hero Complex.

Thirty years ago, Sammy J swapped some comics with his school gardener. He wasn’t to know it at the time, but that moment set off a chain of events that led to the birth of his daughter, saw him committing a crime in Canberra and ended with a federal policeman searching his attic.

Having already won or been nominated for various prestigious awards in Australia (winner of Best Comedy at Melbourne Fringe and nominated for Most Outstanding Show Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Best Comedy at Adelaide Fringe), this mind-blowing tale is the five-star, must-see show of Sammy J’s career - a real-life, hilarious comic book adventure that proves sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.

Sammy J has performed around the world, had a sitcom on Netflix, is one half of the man/puppet comedy duo Sammy J & Randy, hosted the ABC Radio Melbourne breakfast show and created viral satirical sketches and songs on politics, parenting, and everything in between - his 1990s Song & Brexit Yoga routine enjoying millions of views online. He's basically had more career eras than Taylor Swift. He gained a national following with his satirical series Playground Politics and his weekly satirical sketches on ABC ran for five years with millions of views online and an AACTA nomination for best comedy program.

As part of Sammy J and Randy, their acclaimed live shows have taken them from the Sydney Opera House to London’s West End and multiple Montreal comedy galas. Their musical sitcom, Sammy J & Randy in Ricketts Lane, premiered on ABC TV in 2015 before launching in the USA & Netflix UK, and was nominated for three AACTA awards. As a composer, his country music album Buster J: Cross Country succeeded in utterly baffling the entire population of Nashville, who have banned him from ever visiting again.