Here’s a show title to mess up the formatting on many a website. Once you’ve seen the show, you realise it’s very much in-keeping with its contrary, deliberately alienating nature. There is a lot going on with Andy Barr’s fourth show, with big themes breaking the surface and then ducking below again in a spume of non-sequiturs, absurd asides, desperately awkward anti-comedy, and the hilariously baffled faces of most of the audience. It’s near genius.

Barr informs us, the first of several pints of stout in hand, that although this is his fourth show, he considers it his debut as his first three from 2017-19 were character pieces. This is the real Andy Barr. Trouble is, this was going to be a show about his grief at the death of his friend in 2013 but he’s got over that. Now he’s alright, he’s got forty minutes of ‘golden material’ in search of an ending. He spends that forty minutes demonstrating he’s one of the least alright people to ever walk onto a stage.

This is, of course, Andy Barr playing Andy Barr. There’s a little clue in an opening onscreen sketch that show the posters for his earlier show. Here’s Barr referencing Francis Bacon referencing Velázquez. There’s a lot of Kaufman-esque mischief here, with the slightly pugnacious, contemporary edge of Mark Forward. There’s also a similar sensation you get with a Seymour Mace show, where you become concerned you’re watching someone genuinely close to a real breaking point.

It’s great stuff, with an extended gag about an apple a day keeping the doctor proving a highlight. Barr wrestles the simple premise into such territory as harrowing child neglect and addiction issues before allowing it to collapse in on itself as he openly ponders exactly why joke doesn’t ultimately work. It’s typical of his approach here – it’s like playing pass the parcel. There are great jokes at the core, but there are various layers of obfuscation to get through.

If you’re of a particularly chaotic bent the sheer awkwardness and confusion caused by a comedian deliberately self-sabotaging is delicious in itself. Barr however takes it to such a level that even the most perverse connoisseur of cringe will discover that their sphincter has developed a six-pack. Which is exactly what he’s hoping for.

Anyone paying attention during ‘The Hotly Anticipated 4th Debut Hour from Rising Star, Andy Barr’ will surmise that this is exactly the show that Andy Barr claims it isn’t. This is him working through a loss in the way he knows best. Like grief itself, the show is unpredictable, messy, and complicated. Grief is also deeply personal, and this feels like a cathartic tribute to his friend that just happens to be in front a crowd, and you just know the pair of them would be pissing themselves laughing.

‘The Hotly Anticipated 4th Debut Hour from Rising Star, Andy Barr‘ is at Pleasance Courtyard – Cellar until Sun 24 Aug 2025 at 20:00