During lockdown I found myself scouring the internet for new clowns that could help fill the live comedy void, for example, on Twitter I discovered Alasdair Beckett-King and Josh Pugh who regularly posted short, but brilliantly crafted, clips that guaranteed a laugh. I wasn’t looking for killer stand-up routines, just innovative, enjoyable content that would help keep my spirits up during the tougher days – and that was when I discovered Max Fosh.

Since that day I have thoroughly enjoyed this clowns exploits as he gets up to all manner of nonsense including purchasing a round-a-bout for faux “clout”, crafting a legal document to confirm he is his parents favourite sibling, getting a presidential pardon for a detention, and running for Mayor of London – but with the true goal of acting as spoiler to the idiocy of the Laurence Fox campaign. A worthy goal, I’m sure you’ll agree.

His work is well researched, loophole exploiting entertainment, but there is rarely a higher purpose, let’s not get him confused with Mark Thomas!

So, I guess what I really wanted to know was whether his performance would translate from the small screen to the stage, a very different beast. I had just missed his London shows so was thrilled to discover that he was playing the Fringe, and at such a schedule friendly time.

We arrived at the Underbelly pastures just outside the Buttercup venue early enough to grab a drink and see Max in person for the first time – it’s idiotic to say “he looks much taller in person” about someone that you have only ever seen on a mobile screen – but he really does. The crowd around the venue started to form and before long I realised that this clown had sold the place out!

Max played to his strengths, using video presentations of previously recorded shenanigan’s as the spine of the show. Straight stand-up may not be his forte but his chatty enthusiasm and self depreciating honesty meant that whenever he did address the crowd the outcome was laughter. A personal highlight was Max’s posh people radar, within 2 ‘show of hands’ questions to the crowd he had pointed at a guy in the back row and asked him his name, the answer “Diggory” gave our clown another win.

This highly enjoyable show simply flew by and offered up something a little different to the other shows that we had seen at the Fringe this year. It was also nice to see him look genuinely happy to spend the time at the end of the show meeting fans and taking selfies – something that must get old after weeks of gigs!

If you are a fan of his YouTube channel then you will not be disappointed by this clown, but if not I would recommend watching a few of his videos before buying tickets.

Here at Clownster, we are very much looking forward to seeing what he gets up to next

Clown Stars: * * * *

@Underbelly, Edinburgh