This is definitely an odd way to start a review but it’s only fair to say that this clown has, completely inadvertently, had a fairly large impact on our year. We first saw Ari Eldjarn in 2019 at Soho Theatre, we thoroughly loved his show and found ourselves reading up on Iceland.

Cut to the end of the pandemic and we’re looking for our first holiday destination for over two years and Reykjavik quickly hits the top of the list.

So, Ari Eldjarn is largely responsible for the Erró artwork now hanging on my wall and the Herra Hnetusmjör tracks downloaded on my phone. I’m not sure I can blame him for the picture of me that now appears on the Reykjavik Punk Museum’s Facebook page which is captioned “fucking Mary Poppins” – that one is 100% on me!

So, now that I have done my impression of the Icelandic tourist board I should probably get to the show. I was genuinely excited to be seeing this clown again, I had a newbie in tow and was curious to see how he would follow the brilliant ‘Iron Fire Eagle‘ – I was in no way disappointed.

Our clown for the evening takes to the stage and instantly grabs the room by running the Freddy Mercury “eeeh-oh” bit from Live Aid – It works a treat and sets us up for the rest of the performance.

It’s impossible for a show to not mention the pandemic but looking at it through the eyes of our clown’s two daughters was an enjoyable take that led us back into his past as a hip hop DJ (and pretty spot on beat boxer) and on to his youngest daughter potentially following in his footsteps.

Monkey Barrel 4 is a low ceilinged sweat box of a venue but the time just flew by as we laughed along with this clowns many anecdotes and insights. This is an incredibly enjoyable hour of stand up comedy that is all the more impressive when you remember that our clown is performing in his second language!

If you can tickets, GET TICKETS!

Clown Stars: * * * * *

@Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh

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