“Any man who doesn’t give girls orgasms 100% of the time needs to watch a professional fuck his girlfriend”. It’s said more as a statement rather than as a punchline, but I laughed anyway because I wanted to be seen by the audience as someone who agrees- someone who does give girls orgasms 100% of the time. Chris Betts’ stand-up comedy seems to be, although not intentionally, an investigation of what it means to be a man. The very muscular welsh rugby man next to me agreed the fuck out of Chris Betts, but there was something about his comedy that never really struck a chord with me. “If I ran a bar, I’d make fighting legal”. That’s probably why.

His material is amusing but never truly engages. The show is mostly a string of memories and opinions of his time as a bartender up in Canada. Stories of hen parties and stag dos united audience in horror, and sometimes even in laughter. Yet the inbetween phases are slightly lacking. “Sometimes at the bar I did impressions just to make the time pass”. Chris Betts then does some impressions, and the time does indeed pass. However, I would have liked some more structure and build up to his performance.

Hiding behind his beard, Chris Betts actually comes off as slightly shy despite his aggressively masculine politics. Although he might thrive amongst the like-minded, he never brought any real energy to the foreign land of Edinberg. It’s a shame, for some of his jokes weren’t half bad. There was never any material which broke the mould, or anything that was built up to a truly satisfying climax. But Betts’ intentional insouciance left a very mild-mannered impression on an audience.

It feels like an hour of small talk- sometimes amusing, with a diverting anecdote every so often, or a fun fact. Yet controversial opinions are thrown in to fight for attention rather than anything interesting. Chris Bettes does have potential, and maybe I just caught him in a quiet mood. I did like this hour of stand up, but it never accomplished as much as I felt others do. TWO STARS

**

Reviewer : Robert Stevens