Ed Night does not have the voice you would expect you’d expect of a young man, but it suits his deadpan demeanour. There’s a caustic edge to his bassy growl that feels like it should come from an older head. As Tom Waits has always had the manner and voice of an embittered, derelict bluesman since his twenties, so Night sounds like a circuit veteran of decades standing who’s seen enough not to take anything seriously any more. That surprise lasts only until he completes his first joke, and the shows rockets off into a relentless barrage of top-level gags.

What most comedians would spin into full shows – complete with a heartfelt centre, Night almost rattles through to get them out of the way. His mental health issues and his coming out as bisexual are presented frankly, mined for the sharpest of humour, and then he’s back to surrealist asides about air hockey tables and XL Bully ants as emotional support pets. It’s a juggling act of a show and somehow he never drops a ball. Even the darkest jokes are handled with a surprisingly light touch, albeit with an unsettling habit of locking eyes with one particular audience member during those moments.

‘The Plunge’ exists in a liminal space between straight stand-up and meta-narrative. For every quip about his illicit second family in Skyrim, Night is pausing to remind the audience just how many jokes per minute he’s pumping into his ‘jollycule’ (it makes sense in context) and how many callbacks are nestling within each other like matryoshka dolls. He’s not going to quite the deconstructive extremes of Jordan Brookes for example, but he’s frequently dancing the fine line between the mundane and esoteric to exhilarating effect.

Given ‘The Plunge’ is practically saturated with jokes, it’s incredible just how high the hit rate remains throughout. Part of this might be sheer momentum, for the pace never lets up, but Night is simply a brilliant joke writer, unafraid to throw in various tangents and non-sequiturs. He even momentarily pauses to take a ‘phone call’, a sudden halt that serves no greater purpose than he enjoys it. Despite five years away from the Fringe, he’s lost none of his surgical sharpness. He’s one of a few comics of a similar age, such as Rosco McClelland and Milo Edwards who wield their material like a Maxim gun. A few gags might go whistling past your ears, but they’ll get you sooner rather than later. Irresistible stuff.

‘The Plunge‘ is at Monkey Barrel – The Hive 2 until Sun 25 Aug 2025 (except Wed 14) at 19:35