Brennan Reece is a very funny chap, and as in love with the comedian’s art as any you’ll find working a Fringe stage. Long considered one of the ‘next big things’ in British comedy, the cheekily charming Mancunian has been packing out big rooms for years. 2024 sees him try out the Free Fringe for the first time, standing up for the unifying power of jokes in the face of a censorious establishment which cost him a dream job only a few years ago.
The BBC won’t tell him what the unacceptable quip was, only that it fell beneath their professional standards. ‘Me me me’ is therefore something of a retrospective, as Brennan hunts through his career pre-cancellation to see if he can spot the joke that caused his downfall.
Was it his skit on ‘Gay Jesus’, or maybe his ‘worries’ over ‘tut-tut’ noises stemming from any other religious observers in a crowd? Was it stories of his juvenile quest to self-fellate, or his willingness to dive into LGBTQI+ realms and take no prisoners?
“Brennan Reece is a very funny chap, and as in love with the comedian’s art as any you’ll find working a Fringe stage.”
To him there’s nothing you shouldn’t be able to joke about, jokes are a binding force which create safe spaces for everyone involved. Well-timed humour at a funeral isn’t rude, it’s kindness; anatomically analysing an in-flagrante invite to a homosexual threesome isn’t offensive, it’s human curiosity.
Along the way, he demonstrates a gift for crowd work, bringing people into brief conversations without fear or favour. On his last outing, he hit a double-edged jackpot in the shape of a 40-something gay man with absolutely zero tolerance for political correctness. By the end, Brennan quipped that he disliked him getting more laughs from the stalls.
However, he needn’t fear. The sound of raucous laughter soundtracked his entire set, right through to the final reveal of the job-costing joke. He approaches everything he jokes about with such obvious good faith, that offence is truly unlikely. He doesn’t go anywhere that Dave Allen or Joe Lycett would fear to tread. If anything in digging out some of his older schtick, the risk is of it feeling hackneyed, not hostile.
However as exponents of big room comedy go, you’ll see fewer finer exponents than Brennan Reece. With his look back complete, watch out for a stonking look forward next year.
Show Details
Venue: PBH’s Free Fringe @ Liquid Room Annexe/Warehouse – Warehouse
Dates: Aug 3-12, 14-25
Showtimes: 15:45
Running Time: 1 hour
Age Recommendation: 12+
Price: Free
Accessibility
The performance space, ‘Warehouse’, is not wheelchair accessible.
The venue, ‘PBH’s Free Fringe @ Liquid Room Annexe/Warehouse’, has provided the following accessibility information: ‘Limited access to some parts of venue site. Ramp access to courtyard bar via Victoria street entrance. There is a flight of stairs down to the main performance space and a further flight of stairs to the annex.’.
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