With a career in stand-up spanning more than thirty years, Simon Munnery possibly holds the record for the longest time anyone has maintained a cult following without ever coming close to breaking into the mainstream.
His new show at the Stand shows both why he has retained such a loyal following for so long and why it has never got much bigger than it is now. In a similar vein to Daniel Kitson, Tim Key or Stewart Lee, he ploughs his own creative furrow without a passing thought about commercial success and the requirements for getting on to Live at the Apollo or 8 Out of 10 Cats.
His laconic delivery this year is partly the result of recent illnesses that have left him unable to stand throughout the set and have also, as he says, confined him to the north side of the city unable to cross over the bridges and get the VIP passes for bars that he never goes into.
In spite of looking like he should be resting up at home, he still delivers a near faultless set consisting of short jokes, long stories, poetry, drawings and observations that show an endless ability to look at life from a unique perspective.
Highlights of the set include two lengthy conversations where he reads both parts. The first of the two is inspired by an article where two people claimed to have spent the evening talking about skiing and the second about what came shortly after one of the most famous moments in the bible. The former was delivered in a style that suggested Alan Bennett had taken substances he shouldn’t have and had wandered on to an Edinburgh stage. The later transformed the minutes following the crucifixion into something that made Monty Python’s Life of Brian seem like a warm up act.
The only real misstep was a routine about underground heating systems for tents, where the eventual punchline didn’t justify the time it had taken to get there. This aside it was a set that was surrealist comedy at its finest. Munnery may never be a big star, but he shines brighter than the vast majority of comedians that are.
Runs until 25 August 2025
