Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
The comic pores over the insecurities that attended his twisty journey from Black Country boyhood to TV celebrity
This isn’t the first of Darren Harriott’s shows to alight on a compelling subject for standup, then not dig too deeply into it. Should we celebrate the former, regret the latter – or just enjoy the company of a man who’s more about the convivial presence than the take-home? His new show Roadman – touring from September – contrasts the Black Country comic’s low-horizon background with where he finds himself today, and addresses his insecurity about his intelligence. Recently, he tells us upfront, he was on Celebrity Mastermind – “and I don’t identify as either of those things”. Good line; grabby opening: I’m in for the ride.
It’s a circuitous one. We veer far off-topic, via the 34-year-old’s thoughts on TV’s diversity drive (good in principle, bad on Game of Thrones) and why you shouldn’t drink wine with a straw on a first date. We’re more in the realm of the colourful anecdote than the well-hewn joke. But Harriott is a lovable companion on the journey, and the show gets more endearing as it goes on, reconnecting with the question of our host’s intellectual self-confidence and tracing his tentative steps towards self-improvement.
