Jimmy McGhie

There’s something reassuring about when a comic too young to appear on Grumpy Old Men bemoans the state of our brave new world. 30-year-old Jimmy McGhie assures us he can work a computer but gives the impression he would be happier in a time when he didn’t have to.

Not having to do things is what most of his act is about. It’s a familiar subject for most arts graduates and should hold him in good stead with his Edinburgh audience. Idling around supermarkets during working hours, with only an internal monologue for company, should strike a chord with anyone who has spent any length of time pursuing an artistic career (i.e. being unemployed).

Possibly unique in McGhie’s case is that his internal monologue is delivered by Mobutu Sese Seko, the late president of Zaire. This recurring flight of fancy is one of the joys of the show. Whenever he misbehaves in his own mind, the thickly accented voice of Mobutu creeps in and chides him: "man up".

Being a "young fogey" works for McGhie for much of his show. He is at his best when he talks of times he has had to deal with modern world at its most facile – in his case a T4 interview and a monkey charity in a poverty stricken country. Yet applying this to his everyday life in London can make him seem a bit dated. After all, hating estate agents and South Africans was already territory well trodden when Mobutu first seized power.