Brighton Fringe Review: RICHARD PULSFORD: GET RICH QUICK, Rotunda Theatre Brighton: Squeak

“Apple. Bet they make a huge turnover”

Entering the Rotunda Theatre Brighton: Squeak for Richard Pulsford: Get Rich Quick, you are greeted by a screen with tweets by Pulsford flashing by every few seconds. Each tweet has a different joke on it, leading to a few chuckles from the audience as each new one appears on the screen. Then, we are greeted with ABBA’s “Money, Money, Money” as a lyric video appears on the screen with dozens of punny pictures. I didn’t get a few of them as they were very specific to UK pop culture, but it was still a cute way to begin a money-related pun-filled show. 

Once he takes the stage, however, Pulsford admits that the show does not really have many money-related jokes in it, giving the audience five ways to get rich quick before moving on to his non-finance-related bits. It is, quite literally, just an hour of puns and one-liners with no narrative or meaning behind it, a breath of fresh air from some of the darker Fringe comedy shows. Some bits appear are though they’re Pulsford telling personal stories, but they end up just being setups for more jokes, an amusing twist. 

Unfortunately, while the majority of the jokes are funny, Pulsford is thrown off by the lack of response from the audience. With only four of us in a tent, it is difficult to get the loud responses one might get in a packed pub, but I certainly did my best to give the same response I would have given in a crowd of hundreds. Quite a few times Pulsford would start a joke but then pause, questioning whether the joke would fly, which takes away from the funniness of the upcoming joke, no matter whether we would like it or not. He also admitted to being thrown off when jokes did not land the way they usually do during the show, which was a bit surprising to hear. 

Ultimately, Richard Pulsford: Get Rich Quick is chock-full of funny one-liners, jokes and puns, but Pulsford is greatly affected by the audience’s reactions. It would have been a more enjoyable show if Pulsford had pushed through, not questioning whether the audience would like what was about to come next.

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