Chris Betts: Dumb But Fair

• Lauren McKay
• 16 August 2019

This article is from 2019

An easy-going hour that fails to answer some intriguing questions

Chris Betts is quick to assure his audience that his show, unlike so many others at the Fringe, is about nothing at all. There are no deep themes and no life lessons to be learned here: this is just good old-fashioned stand-up. The top deck of a bus is the perfect setting for Betts' offbeat brand of humour, and the Canadian is a likeable character who easily engages with his audience, gently bantering with them from the off.

His material runs the gamut from his dislike of old people to his love of celebrity gossip, and from cultural appropriation to the joy of strip clubs. Betts has a lot of questions, such as 'why are we still doing dressage?' and 'what's the best way to spend a lottery win?' However, he doesn't have very many answers to offer, and you get the feeling that there might have been more laughs had he pushed a little harder into those responses. Chris Betts is an easy-going performer with a quick wit and a confident style and he has some stand-out jokes (look out for his take on white, middle-class culture). But this hour-long show is low on genuinely laugh-out-loud moments.

Heroes @ Bob's BlundaBus, until 25 Aug, 5.10pm, £5 in advance or donations at the venue.