A room packed full of self-proclaimed teuchters is the perfect audience for Jim Smith, Perth farmer and comedian, who is back at the Fringe this year after a two year hiatus to present his latest show filled with tractor gags and the trials and tribulations of growing up and finding your way in a rural community.
Things that city slickers might take for granted are the bread and butter of Smith’s routine such as the problems of trying to take a girl back home for the night but the farm being a 40-minute drive away, his first encounter with hipsters and the dodgy small town nightclubs that Smith argues actually make the best nights out.
Former Scottish Comedian of the Year and So You Think You’re Funny? finalist Smith has an easy and jovial manner quickly working out who in the audience he knows and having friendly discussion with the small country crowd gathered in one of The Stand Comedy Club’s rooms. He clearly has an established fan base, already selling out his entire run, and much of that is due to the niche nature of his set and his down-to-earth patter.
Some of the material might be lost on any city slickers who stumble across his show – do people in Edinburgh really understand that no event is complete without a raffle as a headline act and that sheep are colour coded? But it is easy listening and has that feel of just being down the pub with a mate as he tells the odd one-liner alongside observational comedy and a whole host of impressive impressions.
Smith admits being regularly asked why he doesn’t make the switch from farm to comedy more permanent but his passion is still for the former and without it he may lose the trademark that sets him apart from other comedians on the circuit.