***
I don't think I'm a particularly sentimental comedy fan but there was a day last week when, by a strange quirk of fate three shows left me moist eyed. Controversial clown Red Bastard ended by inspiring a member of his audience to change their life, Arthur Smith talked movingly of his mother's dementia and then, later in the evening, Tom Wriggleworth made his audience blub quietly in Totally At Odds With The Universe.
It is a blessing and a bit of a curse that Sheffield comedian Wrigglesworth sounds remarkably like Daniel Kitson. Like the bard of Denby Dale – absent from the Fringe this year to give others a chance of the limelight – Wrigglesworth is a terrific storyteller with a terrific eye for detail and ear for a memorable phrase. Ok, maybe not as good as Kitson, but still very good.
Yet somehow this show does not quite hold together. The framework is his relationship with his grandfather, who was a big influence on him when they were growing up. The two of them used to sit together and do taped interviews. Granddad liked nothing better than a bit of D-I-Y and Tom inherited this engineering habit, developing a love for fixing things too.
The narrative, however, could still do with a bit of fixing. While there is nothing wrong with the way the episodes are told, the arc hops around a little, one moment we are hearing about a nightmare trip to Dubai, the next we are hearing about a nightmare corporate gig in front of some posh city knobheads – "the organiser looked at me like the Queen would look at a crabstick." As the title of the show suggests, the connecting thread is that fact that Wrigglesworth, all hair, flowery shirt and kindly demeanour, felt out of place in both places.
Towards the end the story comes full circle and brings us back to his granddad again. It felt a little contrived but it is a tribute to Wrigglesworth's skills as a storyteller that it still had the audience stifling a tear. A poignant, moving finish to a good show, but somehow i left feeling that Wriggleworth could do even better.
