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One of several ‘work-in-progress’ shows that premiered at the Fringe-lite festival last year, It’s Best You Hear It From Me returns as the finished product this year. The main changes aren’t the result of audience feedback – last year’s show could easily have gone on the road with no alterations – but instead come from changes in Cruttenden’s personal life.
Shortly after returning from Edinburgh his wife told him she was leaving him after 20 years. This might suggest that the show will be a bleak reflection on his split and dealing with being on his own, but Cruttenden doesn’t do bleak.
While he admits that his thoughts are getting darker and cautions younger members of the audience that they have both this and serious weight gain to look forward to when they reach their 50s, he still has a smile on his face and looks like someone naturally disposed to look on the bright side.
Not that he isn’t trying to make you think the opposite. A lot of the material that has survived from last year is about the negative aspects of his personality. He acknowledges that he is often seen as the safe comedian’s safe comedian and wants to let people know that this really isn’t him. Instead we get his darker and narcissistic side.
Because he gives voice to what we all think but are too polite or afraid to say, he connects superbly with the audience and delivers an hour long set that flies by. It seems effortless, which is surely a sign of how hard he works and, unlike many so-called safe comedians, Cruttenden still delivers real laughs.
Pleasance Dome, to 28 August (not 16th)
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