Just the Tonic has long been one of our favourite Fringe drinking venues, and this year we discovered a new board game in their selection where you make monsters that can attack babies… there is no better way to explain that; it is what it is.

This also means we got a lot of time to study their show programme, so when one of our group spotted that a volcanologist was doing a show, she became very excited (she has a geography degree from King’s… that she has NEVER used!) and instantly snapped up some tickets. In fairness, this is exactly the Fringe spirit we encourage, so onwards to the science/rocks/comedy gig.

Ben Miller may be the most low-energy clown I have ever seen perform. His delivery style can only be described as the human version of Stephen Hawking’s voice synthesiser… but running on battery save mode.

In many ways, this was actually a fascinating show, full of weird tangents. The robot fish that scares the fertility out of one of Australia’s most problematic creatures, the mosquitofish, could be a show all on its own!

It was also fun to find out that long before Donald Trump had the idiotic suggestion of firing nuclear missiles at a hurricane, the U.S. actually ‘had form’ when it came to averting natural disasters. Who knew that they once attempted to drop bombs on a lava flow to stop it? Genius!

This was one of those shows that certainly had its moments. It’s incredibly well-researched, and if you like a groan-worthy pun, then it’s definitely one for you. On the whole it was very enjoyable, but we just needed a bit more fire from our clown.

Clown Stars: * * *

@Just The Tonic, Edinburgh