On the Record | Slow Progress Records & Coffee (Ed Fringe)

Blending together stand-up with storytelling, On the Record is performed inside the very spaces it celebrates. Alistair Clark has been up and down the country performing this show in record stores, having moved into stand-up after a decade of working as an assistant manager for one. And he’s clearly found his audience, packing out the back room of Edinburgh’s Slow Progress Cafe and Records well before the show’s starting time.

His stand-up’s appeal isn’t limited to vinyl fans though, pulling in stories from greek mythologies and musings on life in-between vignettes from his time dealing with record collectors and digs at various albums. Clark’s confidence in this show and his performance is clear throughout, maintaining a conversational tone with near-perfect timing and even tapping the microphone to get people’s attention when certain jokes weren’t getting the laughs they rightly deserved. There’s even a bit about how his comedy targets the intersection between stand-up fans and record heads, which is usually a grand total of one (himself) in every room.

Some stories do need a basic level of music knowledge, but Clark does a good job of bringing the audience along for the ride; and even when he doesn’t explain them, his expressiveness and engagement with the crowd does wonders. One rant about Limp Bizkit had some of the audience laughing in tears, the strength of his emotions coming from a place of real passion.

There’s a bit of crowd work in the show which he handles well, even when some of the answers genuinely de-railed the jokes he was trying to make. Later parts of the show also touch on the tougher parts of his life, with stories of what he’s left behind and the challenges he’s faced as part of his stand-up career. These never feel like trauma dumps though, skipping over the pitfalls of using comedy as therapy and leaving the audience filled with both a sense of nostalgia and hope for the future.

On the Record is a fantastically funny and quietly moving tale of a life lived, what could have been and what’s yet to come. For now, it’s a brilliant piece of comedy and a performer going from strength to strength.

On the Record is playing at various venues and times across the Fringe - tickets and more information can be found here.

★★★★☆ (4*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by rebeesnaps