Last year Ciarán Dowd of sketch group Beasts made a splash with his debut solo show Don Rodolfo. The riotous romp mixing Don Quixote, Zorro and bad Spanish accents deservedly picked up the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. The challenge this year is to come up with an equally barnstorming sequel. And whle Padre Rodolfo has its moments it never quite matches the shock-of-the-new fun of its predecessor.

This time round Rodolfo is a priest. He's a fashionably hot priest, but only in the sense that the room is a bit sweaty. There is not the same quest for vengeance this time and the plot is a little more wordy and a lot less knockabout.

It is hard not to play a comparison game for anyone that has seen both shows. Instead of a horsey sidekick he has a chatty owl. There isn't quite as much audience interaction here and the debut featured an unforgettable coup de theatre which this follow-up does not come close to matching. The only thing that has stayed the same is the accent that strays between Almeria and Drogheda.

Having said that there are plenty of funny moments as Rodolfo tells his story, dishes out communion wafers as if they are confetti or carries out his own unique brand of barnstorming exorcism. If you've never encountered this black clad anti-hero before you might well enjoy Padre Rodolfo, but one can't help thinking that if this was his first outing there might not have been the demand for a sequel.

Ciarán Dowd: Padre Rodolfo, Pleasance Courtyard, until Aug 25. Tickets here.

Read more Edinburgh Fringe reviews here.

Picture: Idil Sukan

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