Our evening started with chaos: a cab that never turned up, a failed attempt to leg it across town, and, for the first time ever, a missed Fringe show. The silver lining? It gave us plenty of time to get to Monkey Barrel 3 for Pierre Novellie, and thank goodness we did.

Our clown for the evening is always a presence on stage. Not just because of the charisma (though that’s there in spades) but because at 6’3 and broad-shouldered, he an imposing figure. So much so that his slowing metabolism has made buying suits a nightmare, hence tonight’s ensemble sourced from a site that might as well be called “Bouncers R Us.”

But if the suit is off-the-peg, the comedy is bespoke. His language, as always, has the polish of Savile Row: sharp, intricate, and cut to fit.

The thread tying the show together is his farcical house move across London by Tube — a journey that involves fragile valuables, a wedding suit, and 15kg of fast-defrosting South African beef dripping blood through tote bags strung around his neck! How did we get here? Autism, apparently.

Outside of that story, the show roams freely. Novellie muses on how observational comedy is trickier in a world with fewer shared cultural touchpoints, before diving into his time as a school rugby “elephant”, his creeping transformation into a reactionary dad, and the mystery of why money keeps flowing out of the UK without explanation.

This is Novellie in his element: wielding ornate, razor-sharp phrasing to skewer and envy the sort of people who wear nude shapewear to the airport, or to point out the troubling fact that if Winnie the Pooh wears a T-shirt, he must know he’s naked — which makes the lack of trousers far worse.

The show circles back neatly to the moving-house saga, ending in a finale that blends triumph and disaster into a feel-good adventure, leaving the room in stitches. Few Fringe comics can rival Pierre Novellie for writing, delivery, and sheer consistency. He may not feel at home in his suit, but he’s a perfect fit for the Fringe.

Clown Stars: * * * * *

@Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh

To find out more about Pierre Novellie’s shows and tours visit pierrenovellie.com

If you liked this, you may also enjoy…