Joey Page: Reality Is Outside, Paradise Is In Your Brain

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In standup, there is often an inverse correlation between how funny a performer is and the self-conscious wackiness of their attire. Spinning bow-ties and their modern ilk are to be treated with suspicion. Therefore, when Joey Page steps onstage in a suit that looks like a TV test pattern, it seems like an ill omen.

Unfortunately, this eccentric style of dress is symbolic of the whole show: it anxiously broadcasts Page's self-proclaimed strangeness, but never does anything substantial to back it up. Much of the time, Page practises a rambling, long-form style of delivery, where punchlines are rare but the sheer weight of outlandish concepts eventually snowballs into breathless humour. But while the material by no means subscribes to realism, it is honestly no more 'surreal' than the bulk of comedy playing at the Fringe. When it comes to the weird, Edinburgh has high standards.

Given that Reality Is Outside, Paradise Is In Your Brain centres around the possibilities of the imagination, the show feels like a missed opportunity to explore some much bigger themes, which Page hints at occasionally, but fails to fully engage with. Despite hyping it in the title and his introductory monologue, Page never actually explores the paradise in his brain; a series of anecdotes later revealed to be completely false could have raised interesting questions about the lies comedians will tell to get a laugh, but instead it tails off. Page is personable and energetic, but ultimately cannot sustain such half-developed ideas and disappointingly ordinary surrealism.