Wil Hodgson - Leave The Landing Light On

For a late-night show, with a suitably late-night vibe, Wil Hodgson delivers a perfectly listenable hour that could just as easily sit in the spoken word section of the Fringe brochure as the comedy pages. There are certainly joke-heavier offerings at the festival. But in recreating some of the sense of childhood fear and wonder around ghost stories, comic books, Roald Dahl's imagination and spooky public information commercials from the Seventies, Hodgson reinforces the truism that the dark “intensifies everything”.

Moving towards a universal, more inclusive form of storytelling and away from the unique, bristling, “I am what I am” attitude of his breakthrough performances, Hodgson nevertheless paints himself as a sensitive, complex kid growing up. He sympathised with King Kong rather than being scared, and was attracted to Dennis the Menace comics, despite the character's persecution of softies like himself. With the benefit of hindsight, he can identify all the oddness that made The Beano such an incongruous comic. But though it's an easy target, like the overblown government safety films he introduces with a wry chuckle, he successfully reproduces the cocktail of emotions they stirred.

The clips and slides are very much secondary to Hodgson's oratory, mellifluous in its West Country burr. And notwithstanding a Jimmy Savile impression with appropriate disclaimer, there's moments where he seems lost in reminiscence. Ultimately, Leave The Landing Light On is a succession of snapshots that don't coalesce into anything with broader insight or meaning, so while enjoyable, it's quickly forgotten.