Vladimir McTavish: A Scotsman's Guide To Betting

Known for his broad titles, veteran comic Vladimir McTavish returns to the Fringe with another “Guide To...” show. Last year it was whisky, a show that nearly begged the question of whether he could organise the comedy equivalent of a piss-up in a distillery – but this year is much tighter.

For this show McTavish (aka Paul Sneddon) set himself the convenient task of trying to win £7,000—about the average cost of putting on a Fringe show—by betting on events from football to the chance of a white Christmas. The latter bet allows him to revisit some hackneyed material about news teams reaching snowed-in villages but the majority of the show is fresh, based as it is on recent events including the Labour leadership contest (a lost bet there then) and the phone hacking scandal. But the Scotsman's topics are clearly areas he wants just to talk about as much as joke about. Sometimes it feels like he just wants to make himself heard above the madness of it all.

Incidentally, making himself heard in the literal sense is as much an issue here too. Even in a small room, McTavish occasionally struggles to compete with the air conditioning and he might well benefit from being mic'd up. 

Clearly more effort has gone into this year's show but, on the roulette wheel that is star ratings, McTavish still lands on red two.