Edinburgh Festival Fringe Review: Nina Conti's 'Whose Face Is It Anyway?' show is an hour of great silly fun
English actress, comedian, and ventriloquist Nina Conti’s latest Fringe offering ‘Whose Face Is It Anyway?’ is a laugh-out-loud fun-packed show with silliness throughout and the audience playing a big part in providing the funniest moments.
The 50-year-old has been on our TV screens for years now, putting masks on audience members and controlling what they say to hilarious effect. And at the Pleasance Courtyard on Saturday night she brought this spectacle to the Fringe, with a slightly naughtier show compared to what we’ve seen on the telly.
The always charming Conti started by telling the audience that she has been putting masks on people for years and was "ahead of the curve”.
While her sketches with her cheeky monkey hand puppet were good fun and often very funny, it’s the unscripted audience participation that showcases Conti at her best, with her quickfire wit putting words into the mouths of the “willing” audience members who become the stars of the show.
The funny interactions with the crowd began immediately, with Conti’s warmth shining through as she and her monkey chatted to audience members. And while she was often making them the butt of the jokes, the feelgood factor remained throughout her hour, with the audience buying into the silliness of Whose Face Is It Anyway?
The real fun began when Conti invited people onto stage to wear masks and have their voices controlled by her. The results were immediately hilarious and more risque than her television appearances.
Electrician John from London was the perfect first accomplice, playing along with the ventriloquist, with Conti providing a masterclass in quick wit and improvisation.
Next on stage were a brother and sister for a sit down chat which had the audience in hysterics, with the brother declaring his love for his sister's husband with the sister replying "we love to share". Guitarist 'Dan' then joined the trio for a singsong.
This was followed by an 'Ask monkey' section with audience members asking the monkey for advice on their problems, "when in doubt get practical". This section really relied on the audience members and unfortunately didn’t quite produce as many belly-laughs as the rest of the show.
Next up on stage and donning a mask was local man Alistair, with Conti’s Scottish accent absolutely bang-on and equally hilarious. He was then joined by his girlfriend Anastasia who was also masked up for a hilarious chat about the couple going to Crete on holiday on Monday.
The couple were then joined on stage by Alistair’s parents Kenny and Yvonne who were also masked up, with the audience in tears as Conti raised the bar and rushed between the family members controlling their voices at lightening pace. Family friends were then invited up to join them, with the show not quite falling apart as hilarity prevailed.
The family were great sports, joining in for a dance and singsong as Conti did their voices to provide a great penultimate act of the Whose Face Is It Anyway Fringe show.
Telling the audience she has directed a film currently on at the Edinburgh Film Festival, ‘Sunlight’, Conti of course finished with a silly but ultimately harmless conversation with her cheeky monkey again to earn a well-deserved standing ovation.
Nina Conti Whose Face Is It Anyway?, at the Pleasance Courtyard, 7.30pm, August 14-18 and 20-25. Tickets, £20/£22 are still available online.