So this is what happens when you don’t read the fine print on a show description. At no point did I expect this to be a show where we’re read draft chapters from a book… and yet that is exactly what it says the show is going to be within the fringe programme. Luckily this was by no means a costly error, just a lesson for the future.

I read the show as: ‘Dr Clown performing stand-up based on the anecdotes and dark humour that come from his role as a psychiatrist.’ What we got was: ‘Dr Clown reading chapters from his new book featuring anecdotes and dark humour that come from his role as a psychiatrist‘ – same material, VERY different delivery mechanism. Like spray cheese or ice-cream-flavoured Monster Munch (it was a thing).

Heading away from the hordes of drunk red people down at the seafront and up to the Caroline of Brunswick pub was a great way to start this show. It’s an archetypal fringe venue – rough around the edges, yet friendly and effortlessly low-key.

Our clown for the evening was Benji Waterstones, a junior doctor and psychiatrist who moonlights as a stand-up comedian. He has an effortless and engaging delivery style that must come with being able to regularly say ‘step away from the edge‘ and ‘tell me more about this dimension that you rule‘ in the same day.

As he started reading chapters from his book it was easy to get swiftly swept up in his stories. We got to witness his mischievous medical school interview process and the role-play sessions with his house mate, where he had to diagnose the conditions his pal was acting out, and things are going well. At one point it turned into what Reginald D Hunter would call an ‘interesting club’ rather than a comedy club, which means no laughter but that the silence is no bad thing.

Our clown then makes his only misstep of the evening – he welcomed audience feedback. Fine in theory, not always so great in practice, as it can see shows freewheel off into different agendas and far-too-detailed personal cul-de-sacs.

Overall, though, this was a truly enjoyable show and I would very much like to catch a straight stand-up show with Dr Clown in the future. Based on what we heard on this night, his book is going to be good and I can very well see us picking up a copy for the Clownster library.

Clown Stars (-unrated-)

@Laughing Horse, Caroline of Brunswick – Brighton