Hal Sparks: Evolution Overdrive

Fresh from a world tour and brought onstage amid flashing lights and a thumping soundtrack, Hal Sparks returns to the Fringe with a brand new hour. The American television personality, comic, actor and musician dissects pop culture with the verve and vigour we've come to expect.

His unapologetically American, off-the-cuff references are rarely anglicised, and much of his set stems from taking digs at his homeland. Delivered with boyish enthusiasm and replete with expletives, he rips into anti-gay protestors, blind religious faith and other everyday realities that really get his goat. Sadly, such observations are often predictable and rarely ground-breaking.

The hour zips along nicely, but the segues are often tenuous or non-existent, fragmenting the show as it occasionally dips into a sort of haphazard ranting, offering little in the way of comic relief. Some pieces work well, peppered with cartoonish impersonations and musical numbers, although such sections  are often drawn out way past their sell-by-date.

Luckily, his energy and ability to remain unfazed by a flat gag ensure the pace never drops, and there are enough solid laughs to be had. Only once does he come close to the bone – no amount of black clothes can detract from what is essentially a very safe, unchallenging show. Do not expect to be wowed by clever words, or to applaud the machinations of his mind, but this is still a decent, if predictable, offering from Sparks.