Ian D. Montfort: Touching the Dead

With Liverpudlian medium Joe Power supposedly offering "proof of life after death" at the Assembly Rooms this year, the simultaneous debut of Ian D. Montford is both timely and welcome.

Montford is the latest creation from Tom Binns, whose feckless hospital radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury is also making a fourth consecutive appearance at this year's Fringe.

As with Brackenbury, Binns completely inhabits his new character, a Sunderland psychic with immaculate hair and a beatific countenance. Wading straight into the audience, he begins the psychic shtick of cold reading with the help of "spirit guide" Jeff. His readings are wide of the mark at the beginning but become unerringly accurate as the show goes on. Working out how he achieves it is all part of the fun in this subversive hour.

The jokes don't let up, with a string of dead celebs "coming forward" to help provide the punchlines. From Record Breakers' Norris McWhirter to the inevitable Michael Jackson, they never outstay their welcome - stopping only to embarrass an audience member or drop a sparkling one-liner.

Without wishing to give the game away, what Binns has so ingeniously done is to learn many of the tricks of the psychic trade, making Montford completely believable. If he wasn't playing the show for laughs he could probably make a living out of it. Four set pieces in particular are genuinely impressive pieces of conjury, as well as maintaining the laugh rate.

It's a storming performance by Binns, who has found another Fringe winner with Montford.