Tony Jameson: Football Manager Ruined My Life

The logical recommendation to make about Tony Jameson's debut show would be to warn that it will appeal only to specific audiences. This is a performance that deals, in detail, with both British football and the eponymous computer game series (which allows the player to manage a virtual football team). By rights, much of the material should only work for those familiar with both, so it is a testament to Jameson's self-deprecating charm that he wins over everyone quickly. That said, it's clear within the first 10 minutes of conspiratorial giggling which of the audience are themselves hardcore fans of the game.

Jameson uses the two-decades-old Football Manager series, to which he admits he is hopelessly addicted, in order to frame the major developments of his life. As a consistent theme which ties together the disparate threads of early adulthood, this works surprisingly well. The links that Jameson draws between his gaming habit and his childhood, career and marriage never feel forced, and rarely fail to raise at least a chuckle.

If the show has any major flaw, it's that beyond the esoteric subject matter, the story that Jameson tells—one of 20-something uncertainty and arrested development—is very familiar territory, particularly at the Fringe. This never makes Jameson's manner unlikable or his anecdotes unrelatable, but it does leave the whole experience feeling somewhat lightweight. Nevertheless, he is clearly a promising comedian whose natural talent is obvious, and whose future efforts bear watching.