---

Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose – Snug
Aug 11-14, 16-28 (17:40 )

---

Its pretty easy why I like Paddy Young. He’s

• Northern English
• Well Funny

Those two essences right there are the basic ingredients for a good comedy show. This is Paddy’s debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, & the room was more or less full, which was an impressive start. Paddy himself is an amiable chap, wearing (& selling) a ‘Laugh You Rats’ hat, arm’d with a chainsaw wit & an ability to control the laughter level taps of a room better than I’ve seen done by the most season’d comedians. As I drifted off-piste to study the effects of Paddy’s art, it felt just like witnessing a conductor with his symphonic orchestra. Its almost like magic.

Paddy’s set is a heart-warming tale of self-inflicted downward social mobility, all in the name of remaining true to your passion – in Paddy’s case its stand-up, from where all roads lead to London & the inevitable flat share with strangers you don’t get on with. The ‘Nonce Wing for beans & toast,’ I think he call’d it. You can buy a whole terraced street in his native Yorkshire for what you’d cough up for just one month’s rent for a London boxroom; but Paddy has soldier’d on with his destiny, & despite never having seen him play before, nor seen him on the telly, there is a definitive sense of polish I sens’d to his act which must surely have come from his garnering experience in the capital.

Every film in the north is about the one person in town who is not a moron

Paddy is a ‘two jokes for us, one joke for himself,’ kinda guy, whose unevasive honesty is refreshing. All thro’ Laugh You Rats we get lots of lovely northern-ness, including a chief central segment about his compatriots, their identity, & how it transposes into London life. The best part of Paddy’s oeuvre, however, is the smoothness in which he bounces off the crowd’s banter – I mean the effortless transitions were rizla-thin. My personal favourite bit of the show was the Hitler section, concerning his addiction to Doctor Morrell’s drugs; ‘am I a bad guy?’ whispers the Fuhrer on a particularly heavy come down. Priceless.

I was chatting to a couple of lassies from the audience afterwards, one of whom said she’d gone to drama school with Paddy & found him well funny then. And Northern, those two aforementioned ingredients of a good show. But there’s much more to Paddy, & hopefully more to come, because he does seem to have a unique voice.

Damo