Marcel Lucont Etc

Marcel Lucont is the prince of the chat show genre in 2011. While his haughty Frenchman shtick could wear thin over the course of an hour-long solo set, the chat show format allows him to spar with guests and disdainfully berate late-comers to great effect. His guests (in this case the rather timid Yianni Agisilaou and the gloriously bluff and brash Tony Law) are probed about awkward sexual encounters, lubricated with alcohol and challenged to a staring contest, which Lucont invariably wins.

Crucially – and this is what raises Lucont above other chat shows at the Fringe – they are never given a soft invitation to plug their wares. Every other couch-based act in town acts as a series of trailers for things you could be seeing instead. Lucont and his guests make the show you’re watching the one that’s worth seeing.