ED2013 2/5 Reviews ED2013 Comedy Reviews

That’s Not How You Spell Pedantic (Jim Higo / PBH’s Free Fringe)

By | Published on Friday 16 August 2013

Punk poet and grammar-nazi Jim Higo has a list of language crimes and social media bugbears. It’s super-bitter, lifted only by the obviously whimsical poems about executing people who use dangling participles. But black humour needs a sense of fun if it’s to let us in, and this is overfull of bad sex puns and half-cocked John Cooper Clarke imitation. He’s both a socialist and a linguistic conservative, and I respect people who buck clichés like this – but not to the point of contradicting themselves, as he sometimes does by mocking modern working-class speech. His desperation and self-deprecation work well, and he’s full of energy throughout, but he doesn’t manage to recruit us to his cause.

The Royal Oak, until 23 Aug, 3.15pm.
tw rating 2/5 │ [Gavin Leech]



READ MORE ABOUT: |