At the UK border, the customs officer asks Tarang Hardikar what his purpose is in this country. “I am a comedian”, he says. “A comedian? What’s that? Tell me a joke!” Yet, some questions are best answered with more questions, and Hardikar does just that: Why do tears flow unevenly on both sides of your cheeks? Why do songs that are stuck in our heads play at just the wrong moment? And what “are” numbers?
In Hardikar’s one-hour preview of his Edinburgh Fringe show, the audience is quickly transported from the customs counter to his therapist’s office before distractedly leaping off to Hardikar’s house, his school and even the football pitch. With impressive multi-roling, the audience is introduced to an entire cast of characters, all while we join Hardikar in collective philosophical musings.
Through his playful and enjoyably awkward storytelling, Hardikar weaves in layer upon layer of narrative, all helped by a fun visual aid, to create a new world which uses its previous one-liners as inside jokes, much to the audience’s delight. Hardikar even manages to wrap up every one of these loose threads, coming satisfyingly full circle at the end of the performance. Though at times he teeters on the edge of repetitive references and prolonged jokes, maybe that is just to remind us of how far we have come and to be sure we haven’t gotten lost along the way.
This show is smart, bringing us along for the ride while playing with words and falling for word plays, but it is also funny, thoughtful and touching. Hardikar shares his questions on life and his own way of thinking, which feels genuine as we share honest laughter, often making us wonder why we hadn’t thought of these things before. Well worth checking out, if only to discover this up-and-coming comedian whose humanity brings joy to even the most insignificant questions.
Reviewed on 1 August 2026 and then at Edinburgh Fringe
