Sam Fletcher: Good on Paper, Bannerman's Free Fringe, Edinburgh
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Your support makes all the difference.In a dank back room of a pub, in an unlovely daytime slot on the Free Fringe, Sam Fletcher has created a tiny world of wonder. It's a delight to spend an hour there.
A newcomer to the scene - he has previously had comedy parts in Shameless and Ideal and is better known to stand-up fans as Fletch, Tim Key's put-upon show technician - he turns out to be a natural. Charismatic and utterly at ease, he has the room on side even before his first routine, a masterful piece of air-drumming.
The air-drumming is a good place to start, in fact, as it is a simple idea done extremely well. The rest of the show - a lo-fi, high-quality carnival of visual jokes, magic, Dad jokes and Heath Robinson-style useless inventions - follows the pattern. It's an uplifting hotch-potch, packed with content, which brings to mind the easy charm of Josie Long's early shows, underpinned with the rigour of Tim Key.
There's the slightest of sags before the final, remarkable, set of illusions but this is a lovely, lovingly wrought show from the Best Newcomer nominee. Put simply, no other show has made me smile so much this year.
To 25 August (www.freefringe.org.uk)
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