There has been a change at the Fringe over the last couple of years. More and more clowns are choosing to do shorter runs, and we’re not here to throw shade: the festival has become painfully expensive and it’s always been a month that could kill an act’s sanity… or liver! So, we get it.

The sad part for us is that it means we might not catch all our favourites in the window we have. This year that included the likes of Andrew Maxwell, Justin Edwards and Ania Magliano to name just a few.

So it was great news when we saw that Ari Eldjarn had timed his three-night run at The Monkey Barrel perfectly… Well, for us, anyway… and, as it turns out, for jokes about European referendums.

Iceland has just gone through its very own Brexit… well, a preliminary vote to see if it would like a vote to join the European Union, and it’s a gift of a topic for a clown as skilled as this. The political material allowed our clown to introduce us to the world’s last whale hunter, billionaire Kristjan Loftsson, and his ‘innovative’ take on protestors and politics.

The local Icelandic material is always on point but this year it has been joined by some rather good Trump and Starmer impressions and a taster of the beat=boxing talent that our clown has in his back pocket.

One of the most entertaining and enjoyable clowns on the circuit, and an expert in timing.

Clown Stars: * * * *

@Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh

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