Don’t you just hate it when your own words come back to bite you in the arse? In our 2023 review of Troy Hawke we boldly declared:

“Okay, we fully intended to stop writing anything about work-in-progress shows. We sort of had to during COVID as comedians shook off their ring rust, but we know it’s not the norm and don’t plan on doing it again in the future.”

And yet here we are in 2025, once again writing about a Troy Hawke WiP. In our defence, there’s a good reason – well, one anyway: it’s the only way we can see him. His dates sell out fast.

So we find ourselves in the Just the Tonic bar The Rowantree (still our favourite Fringe watering hole), passing the time with stupid card games before heading into a cave to watch the founder of The Greeters Guild. Just another day at the Fringe.

We won’t give away any material – it is a WiP, after all – but if this is the rough version, the final show is going to sparkle like the cheeky glint that so often flashes in our clown’s eye.

Yes, he forgot a bit, and yes, he had to backtrack to make a later callback work. But he handled it with such effortless charm that we didn’t mind one bit. Our debonair clown leads us on such an amusing ride that it’s a pleasure simply to be along for it.

WiP or not, this was still one of the best shows we saw at this year’s Fringe. Here’s hoping we actually catch the finished product next time.

Oh, and for the record? I’m apparently a fourteen… in Scrabble!

Clown Stars: (unrated… but this is 5* stuff)

@Just The Tonic at The Caves – Edinburgh

Troy will be taking the finished version of this show on Tour in 2026, hopefully we’ll see you there!