One of the most talked about shows at the Edinburgh Fringe this year was Harriet Richardson's Creep at the Pleasance Courtyard. Richardson is a performance artist rather than a stand-up comedian but there are plenty of laughs in her show. As well as a mystery that has not been solved, leaving rumours circulationg around the internet.

In Creep Richard explains how she went viral during lockdown after dating 100 men in 24 hours. This was no Lily Phillips sex marathon – the 'dates' were conducted online and the men were by and large well-behaved. Though one did make a pretty awful version of spaghetti bolognese for a virtual dinner date.

After the project gathered attention Richardson says in the show that she was contacted online by a comedian who also wanted a date with her. She goes on to drop hints about the comedian's indentity but says that for legal reasons he cannot be named. We assume it is a man though as during their communication he sends her a dick pic. Although we don't know if it is his. This could be a false trail.

As with Baby Reindeer internet sleuths have been trying to work out who the person is. A TV show is mentioned which maybe narrows it down (if it is true). There is also some speculation that some of the Easter eggs in the show are not genuine. A Channel 4 URL is flashed up briefly that might offer a big hint but BTJ has heard that someone was smart enough to jot down the URL and try it and it turned out not to exist.

There is no suggestion that the anonymised comedian has done anything wrong. The show is not really about then, it's largely about Richardson's desire and obssession. In fact the title Creep could apply to Richardson's behaviour. During the show she talks about befriending other people in the comedy firmament as a way of feeling closer to the person in question and has the pictures to prove it. (though again we do not know if these pictures are all genuine). She writes of the title: "A creep can be a person. It can also be a slow, almost inevitable movement towards something you definitely shouldn't want. "

BTJ won't go into further detail about the show. You'll have to see it for yourself when it comes to the Soho Theatre later this year. But for an update you can read Richardson's recently published Substack column in which she reveals that she actually encountered the comedian (and their agent) while her run was taking place in Edinburgh but didn't want to reveal this at the time. Read the column, entitled 'Last night I met the man my show is about' here. 

As we said at the start though Richardson describes herself as a performance artist not a comedian, so perhaps this whole story is a piece of conceptual art rather than a true account...

Harriet RichardsonL Creep is at Soho Theatre from November 27 - December 5. Buy tickets here.

Read a review of Creep here.

Picture: Charlie Ralph