Review: Foster’s Comedy Live, Highlight Omni

The comedy at Highlight is about as dirty as the venue’s toilets. Filthy, uncomfortable and out of order, it’s the equivalent of getting a laugh out of pencilling a male appendage onto a school jotter, where appealing to the lowest common denominator is literally the bottom line.

In an attempt to raise a titter, not one of the three acts on show (including the compere) could get through a sentence without mentioning a swear word. Some do this type of comedy better than others, but before we come to Craig Hill, consider host, Susan Morrison.

At 52-years-of-age, no-one really wants to know what depraved sex acts she’d like to perform on men in their 20s. You could feel your shoulders hunching up at every cringe-worthy, migraine-inducing piece of bile that poured from her potty-mouth.

However, first act Danny Angelo’s opening remarks were to comment on the lack of bodies within the venue.

Pint in hand, the Irishman informed the audience he would “take any old drugs –but not a biscuit if it fell on the floor”, and apparently has an HND in opening a Mars Bar.

Armed with a battered guitar – which he performed a hopelessly out-of-tune, five-second rant on – his biggest laugh came courtesy of a heckler. In fact, he summed it all up when he said he should have stuck in harder at school.

Geordie Mike Milligan, on the other hand, is at least mildly entertaining. Labelling himself “Thde Seventies Avenger”, his ranting shtick consisted of contrasting the cultural differences between the middle-aged and the younger generation. Not bad, but not great, either.

Craig Hill, though, is perfectly suited for this type of event. Too often constricted by TV, radio, and mild Fringe shows, he does smut perfectly.

Sporting his trademark kilt, he (almost literally) unleashed it all, bouncing around like he was downstairs at CC Blooms.

In fact, Hill’s hilarious, provocative patter could well have seen him fall foul of the SNP’s new offensive Bill against free speech.