Max Fosh at Edinburgh Fringe review | Fosh’s fine hour of fabulous stories

★★★★☆
With millions of fans online, Max Fosh has done a fine job of converting his viral sensations into a live show.

Max Fosh

★★★★☆

With millions of fans online, Max Fosh has done a fine job of converting his viral sensations into a live show.
If there’s one thing you can guarantee at the world’s largest arts festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it’s stories. Watching shows back-to-back, day after day, it speaks to that long-held human tradition of telling tales. YouTuber Max Fosh has more stories than most. His recorded antics include becoming the world’s richest man (for seven minutes, at least), breaking into the International Security Convention under the name Rob Banks (I kid you not), and duping well-respected food critics into thinking roadkill was a luxury meal. He’s a posh boy, by his own admittance. And that’s part of the charm. You feel like you’re watching a school prefect be a little bit naughty, flouting the rules. A less ridiculous Jack Whitehall, finding cunning ways to dupe people or the wider system. And in the age of having a Tory leader candidate who doesn’t even know how to pay for food in McDonald’s, Fosh is one of the good ones – a genuinely likeable character. Max Fosh In fact, for his first trick, we spend time deducing the other posh-o’s in the audience; which, given this was the Edinburgh Fringe, either there were a surprising few for the set I saw, or just not many willing to admit they’ve called they’re mother “mummy”. My advice to you is not to expect a stand-up, per se. That’s not, in fairness, where Fosh has cut his teeth. Instead, it’s like getting to hear from the most interesting person at the dinner party (that’s what posh people do, right?). There is some live material. One man had his name legally changed to Gary for a brief period of time, which formed part of Fosh’s wider story to save the name from extinction. But on the whole, it’s a show that relies quite heavily on the screen and projector, for videos and graphics to appear. For someone who isn’t really deemed a stand-up, though, Fosh still does an excellent job of conversing with the audience, mocking them with the odd jibe – especially when looking through the notes on their phone. In another of Fosh’s self-set challenges, he stood to be London Mayor – notably going up against one Laurence Fox, who’s a walking meme all unto himself. After watching Fosh at Edinburgh Fringe, he certainly has my vote. I’m sure he at least knows how to buy a Maccy D’s.

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