Alex Horne: Lies

With the plethora of standup shows at the Fringe, there’s always one central conceit that binds them: almost all of the material is fabricated or at least embellished. Alex Horne has devoured this idea and synthesised it with a show about lying itself. Does it affect how we appreciate and identify with comedy, or is it actually necessary to fully engage with dishonesty for the sake of entertainment?

This collective ruse tends to put an audience at ease, and here Horne’s meandering stories about disastrous fatherhood and social ineptitude are utterly irresistible. He’s assisted by the voices of Michael Caine, Andre Agassi and Cherie Blair, all of whom overlap and argue in what is a technically immaculate routine. Caine confesses his love of chorus lines, Agassi confides that he always knows exactly what’s in his heart, while Blair brags about her (former) 21-inch waist. Most successfully, Horne indulges in a double-act with himself, conversing with pre-recorded dialogue which is seamlessly fused to the show’s narrative.

Clearly, Horne is a gifted raconteur, and the last few years of compering—most notably as host of The Horne Section—have allowed him to perfect a breathless delivery – unrelenting and enviably quick-witted. Though the pace can occasionally ruin any period of reflection or pause, it’s easy to become completely swept up in material on the nature of standup. Lies is flooded with call-backs and genre parody, at once devilishly intelligent without preaching or overselling its craft, while exhibiting how much work has gone into its rehearsal and assembly.