After last year’s hilariously educational show The Birds and the Beats, Grant Busé returns to the Fringe with a very different show. Touché Busé delivers a show bursting with the confidence of a born showman, turning his gaze inwards as he crafts musical comedy from his various misfortunes. As he keeps telling the audience, ‘it’s the blows that make shows,’ and what a show this is.
Busé is aware, charismatic and a demi-god on the keyboard (which he borrowed). His songwriting is razor sharp, with lines that spread a wave of cackles among the crowd. With just two instruments the music could risk feeling repetitive, but each song feels unique in it own right. One of the best sequences however is when he doesn’t play music at all, instead acting out a calamitous start to his day through mime. It’s a masterstroke, and captures the mood of the show perfectly. Busé wants you to both laugh with him and at him as he whizzes chord to chord through a musical mayhem of a year.
The former Neighbours actor jokingly milks his own reputation for laughs, but then if you had been on television so would you. With just the right amount of cockiness, he knowingly ticks off the comedy cliches and lets the audience in on a snippet of his tumultuous year. Because, as he points out, nobody wants to hear about his successes. They want the juicy details of his failures. As obviously bad as some of these things are, Busé is in the privileged position of not appearing dragged down or burdened by these incidents (on stage at least). He’s rocking out to the sound of his own misfortunes, and the audience are along for the ride.
Busé is a rollicking, laughing and wonderfully expressive entertainer. You can’t leave his company without a massive grin covering your face. Best of all, he still feels like he has more to give, and the best of Busé has yet to be unleashed on the world. Busé says that he has reached a point in his life where he wonders where he is going and what should come next. With a musically fueled hour of comedy gold like this, he emphatically answers his own question.