EdFringe Review: Pierre Novellie: Do the One About…

Pierre Novellie is a relatively new name to me, but I recently seem to have heard his name and caught bits of his comedy quite often, so a chance to review his show seemed like a no-brainer. I’ve heard him talk about that odd mix of having two differently oriented names—French and Italian, though the Italian surname has been ‘Frenchified’—and yet being South African. And white South African at that. And I knew that he seemed to appear on other comedians’ shows quite often, which suggests he’s pretty good.

And indeed he is. He’s doing another show at the Monkey Barrel in the early evening, as well as this show—‘Do The One About’—which is on in Studio One at the Assembly George Square. This is a big venue—a lecture theatre as Novellie points out—so it needs to get plenty of bums on seats. Not a sell-out, but a good showing nonetheless.

Novellie’s show is a reprise of work he’s done before, so he tells us, and he wisely asks those who know his work not to spoil the show for those who don’t. It works. But then he’s a big man, and he can employ his South African accent if he wants to scare people—and demonstrates this.

We get stories of his childhood, his education, and his relationship with food. He’s the master of the pregnant pause, even when we think we know what is coming. Which actually we don’t always.

Observational Comedy, Food Riffs, and Gentle Crowd Work

His show is not gags, it’s observational and often pointed at himself, which feels like a smart move, as it doesn’t feel like he’s setting out to offend anyone here. Well, not too many anyway.

#FringeQuickies

The Quinntessential Review’s original bite-sized interview series with EdFringe performers. Once again, over 10% of 2026 shows took part!

Check them out in the doomscroll — it’s fast, funny, and scrollable in seconds.

Or, check out the random boosted Quickie below — from one of the performers who’ve helped support our Fringe coverage ❤️

A Fringe Quickie (#50) with ‘Awaiting Evaluation’

His riff about food is great, especially when he gets on to why Brits love ‘wet food’. Whilst he was born in South Africa, Novellie was brought up in the Isle of Man, so has a claim to know something about us Brits. And everything he says about the madness of cooking a chicken until it’s so dry you need to rehydrate it with gravy—TO MAKE IT WET—makes perfect sense, even if it’s also very silly. The Isle of Man/Wigan ‘delicacy’ of ‘Pea Water’ was probably the maddest thing I’ve ever heard of food-wise. Thanks for that image, Pierre!

“He’s [Novellie] the master of the pregnant pause, even when we think we know what is coming. Which actually we don’t always.“

There is a bit of audience participation. Possibly best not to own up to being from ‘abroad’, sit on the front row, or whoop at his revelation that he studied Anglo-Saxon at university, or you’ll be brought in. But it’s all harmless and you won’t be ridiculed if you dare to join in. He’s accomplished at dealing with the inevitable ringtone when someone’s forgotten to put their phone on silent, weaving it seamlessly into the show’s narrative. This man is quick-witted and confident.

And then he tells us he is autistic—or does he have Asperger’s?—or he’s an Aust. Wordplay is fun in Novellie’s hands, and he’s not sending himself up or making fun of others; he’s simply playing with words. I know it was a 1pm show, but I love when stand-ups don’t have to resort to being unkind or overly potty-mouthed to make us laugh. This is a bit more subtle, but laugh-out-loud funny, and this man knows his audience. He also knows himself. Very nice to meet you, Mr Novellie; I hope we meet again soon. I shall recommend you and your shows, because if you can make this ‘hard-hearted Hannah’ (who, incidentally, was the whoop-whooper who DID study Anglo-Saxon etc, but was too shy for the conversation in public) laugh, then you are a very fine man indeed.