Earlier this year I was lucky enough to be invited to the Setouchi Triennale Art season in Japan. After a week exploring the islands of the Seto inland sea we were due a night in Tokyo before flying home. I needed something to do and as I had already visited Tokyo a number of times I needed something different… So we looked up stand-up comedy.

I can’t remember exactly what I typed in but there on the first page of Google was a clown called Yuriko Kotani. Which would have been perfect… If it hadn’t been for the fact that she was performing in the UK! Undeterred we found out that she was playing at the Edinburgh Festival and based on nothing more than this she became the first pair of tickets we bought for the 2019 Fringe.

Standing on stage wearing all black against a black backdrop Yuriko appears small (in her own words she is even small in Japan!) but she quickly brings forth a personality that more than fills the room.

Every year at the Fringe I see a clown who is doing more than just telling jokes, they are baring their soul, they are genuinely putting everything they have in to a performance and taking you on their journey. This year Yuriko Kotani delivered that show.

She talks about being a fish out of water in the UK and how learning and adopting elements of UK culture actually made her a fish out of water back in Japan. But this is not about slamming either culture, this is a show about how embracing the best elements of both made her a better performer and person.

Language also plays a prominent role, the material about her difficulty adapting to sarcasm in the UK and then attempting to use it in a country that doesn’t have it is genuinely hilarious and I will never look at the term ‘ish’ in quite the same way again.

As someone who has tried (and failed) to translate simple wordplay gags to the French side of my family I can only be in awe of Yuriko’s ability to craft intricate and original punchlines in a second language.

There is a powerful amount of emotion in this show and on this night parts of the story almost bought our clown to tears. But that ability to go from tears to laughter and to take a group of strangers on that roller-coaster with you is a sign of great comedy.

I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this performance and can’t wait to see what this clown does next.

Clown Stars: * * * *

 @The Pleasance – Edinburgh