Niblock vs Gig-A-Tron

JAY RICHARDSON

***

MAD DOGS (VENUE 368)

IN THE third venue of its run, this was the most surreal show I've witnessed at the Fringe so far. After moving to Mad Dogs, geek stand-up Owen Niblock was again displaced, to the café upstairs, to make way for one-hit wonders Stiltskin. This could prove a problem for any show, but for one incorporating the world's first computerised comic, it created an atmosphere of impending catastrophe that Niblock did commendably well to contain. Sidestepping waitresses and diners, this computer programmer presented Gig-A-Tron 5000, an AI programme that can independently select jokes and field heckles. Jimmy Carr and Frankie Boyle need not fear, but the computer displayed enough promise to suggest she might dominate Niblock's next Fringe outing and become rather more than a gimmick on the circuit.

Regardless, the young comic has plenty more to entertain with, including inventive use of a flute and amusing bad-taste songs on a bizarre instrument called a stick dulcimer. A groundbreaking free show.