So here we are again, staring into the eyes of Cerberus. Well, the eyes on one of his heads anyway – we can’t stare into all six at once. We’re not made of eyes.

But how did we get here? Well, it all starts with us deciding, rather ill-advisedly, to take advantage of two rather appealing sisters…

Come on now, get your mind out of the gutter. The “sisters” in question are the Twisted Lime and Twisted Lemon bars, which sit at either end of Middle Street like two highly persuasive alcoholic toll booths. They boast a very generous happy hour and a cocktail list to be reckoned with. The Banoffee Pie and Black Forest Gateau are essentially liquid desserts, while the English Mojito is refreshment at its absolute peak.

Despite the ease with which we could have happily ping-ponged between the two all evening, we had a show to catch, so we continued on to the Caroline of Brunswick, where our old pal Cerberus hangs proudly above the bar.

Over the years, this Fringe venue has become one of our most reliable sources of wonderfully odd entertainment – from Pokémon-themed explorations of sexuality to comedy book readings by actual doctors. We’ll add links to the full list below, but needless to say, it’s a cracking Fringe pub with a great atmosphere.

Tonight, we were here to see a work-in-progress show about garage music from an Essex clown who once snogged MC Neat… because of course we were.

As this is a WiP, it wouldn’t be fair to run a full review, but we definitely want to flag it for anyone who gets the chance to catch the finished show.

Abbie Murphy is a 5’1″ powerhouse. She brings her own party to the stage, weaving classic garage tracks through highly entertaining ’90s anecdotes – most notably tales of being in Dukes nightclub in Chelmsford at the age of 14. (I can’t imagine why that place was eventually shut down. – Ed.)

The music is spot on and the material just needs a final polish, but this instantly likeable and hugely relatable clown looks set to deliver a thoroughly enjoyable show when the beat finally drops.

Clown Stars: (-unrated-)

Laughing Horse@Caroline of Brunswick, Brighton

Further dates from Abbie Murphy can be found on her website, and if you have any interest in ready our past Caroline of Brunswick reviews, you can find them below…