Mervyn Stutter has been sourcing and sharing his picks of the Fringe for, unbelievably, 28 years and he is clearly not waning when it comes to separating the wheat from the chaff.
Stutter remains a Fringe veteran and his presence is a welcome and necessary one.
It's obviously difficult for me to tell you how the show will be the day you see it but judging from the swathe of talent he presented when I saw him, his team has a knack for picking out a wide range of the best of the fest. As opposed to other Best of the Fringe shows, Stutter takes from everywhere so instead of ninety minutes of comedy from a run of desperate comedians plugging their shows, we are treated to theatre, burlesque, music and . . . OK, and some comedy. Actually, a lot of comedy. His collection, though, still does provide a much more truthful and interesting representation of the talent at the Fringe in comparison to other shows of this nature.
Stutter as host has a charming end-of-the-pier persona about him. With the sleeves of his pink suit rolled up and a constant barrage of sexual innuendo, his age - as he is keen to remind us - is showing. Stutter himself performs some material to start things off and it's broad but amusing stuff. However his interviews with the performers after their acts are amazingly dull. Mostly asking where their initial idea came from and how the show ended up at the Fringe, nothing gripping is revealed. The answer, as is true for almost every Fringe performer, is of course “we thought it was a good idea. We got/raised some money and did it”. Fear not, Parkinson – your vacated throne remains empty.
Stutter remains a Fringe veteran and his presence is a welcome and necessary one.
