Robin Ince and Michael Legge - Pointless Anger, Righteous Ire

★★★★
archive review (edinburgh) | Read in About 2 minutes
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102793 original
Published 12 Aug 2010
33331 large
102793 original

Robin Ince and Michael Legge are both very, very angry men and they're not afraid to show it in this fantastically unhinged hour of well-aimed vitriol. This is the first time the duo have worked together in Edinburgh, but their on-stage chemistry and enjoyment of each other's outbursts is obvious as they try to fathom when it is justifiable to get furious. The answer appears to be pretty much all the time.

The show starts with the shortest of sketches but then it's swiftly on to a series of standup performances and prepared readings about things likely to make the performers'—and the average Fringe-goer's—blood boil. There are highlights aplenty but stand-out moments include a particularly unsuccessful trip to Sainsbury's and a savaging of certain journalists. Both men wear their intellect as a badge of honour, referencing a list of often somewhat obscure authors and artists, but it never threatens to alienate or descend into arrogance.

Legge and Ince riff effortlessly throughout and ad-lib expertly around audience members' niggles. In fact, they have so much fun they fail even to get to the end of their prepared material, leaving Ince to motor through a bewildering array of topics in the closing minutes. The self-confessed grumpy old (well, middle-aged) men could clearly continue for another hour without an ounce of flab or filler. It's doubtful that many in the audience would complain if they did.