Comedy duo Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez have become Edinburgh Fringe legends over the years with consistently inventive shows. Their styles can vary from the personal to the fictional and this year they've opted for a show that's very personal. And very funny too.
In Commitment Max sets out to tell us all about his friendship with Ivan. First up we get some biographical background which is both hilarious and – presumably – true. There is always mileage in showing embarrassing childhood photos and despite growing up in a pre-iPhone era there are clearly plenty to pick from here.
It also helps that Max's early wrestling career is on tape and that Ivan had early ambitions to be a rock star and made sure that plenty of pictures were taken at his embryonic gigs. It sometimes seems at times as if more effort was put into coming up with a variety of names for Ivan's bands than was put into the music. Quite why they stuck with Voodoo 7:2 is still a mystery to me. And probably them as well.
The duo became best friends and, as a result, when Ivan announced he was getting married, it was up to Max to arrange to stag do. The meat of this high energy show charts the elaborate lengths he went to to find Ivan's old friends who are now scattered around the world.
Would the stag do go as planned? Will he end up naked and chained to a lamp post? You'll have to watch the show to find out. But to be honest the show is hilarious either way. The duo have great comic chemistry as semi-straight man Max tells the story while the more comedically low-status self-mocking Ivan larks around with his funny home-made slang and other crazy ideas.
And while the show, directed by fellow comic Kieran Hodgson, was prompted by Ivan's marriage it's really a show about friendship. The lengths friends will go to for each other and the bonds that can never be broken.
Max And Ivan, Commitment, Pleasance Dome, until August 25. Tickets here.
Read more Edinburgh Fringe reviews here.
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