Sweeping onstage with posturing assurance, James Trickey sustains an impressive level of performance throughout his playfully confident Fringe debut. And that’s despite his background in chartered accountancy, with the comic ironically bigging up the vocation’s street cred and his mathematical acumen, despite his intentions to become a full-time stand-up.
Born to an older, white Englishman father and Cambodian mother, Trickey has his struggles relating to both of them, his father a DIY greeting card making renegade, his mother raised from poverty to enjoy the novelty of snobbery. The imperial background to his parents’ relationship is boiled down to one magically seductive expression, which Trickey can also find informing his place as a tiny cog in the capitalist machine. The relative wealth of nations and the stand-up imperative to always punch up is brought together in the show’s standout routine, with the comic justifying his dodgy accent work based on measuring his earnings against international metrics.
Elsewhere, his thoughts about legacy and having children of his own are filtered through some self-defeating penny-pinching, his desire to stick it to the system prompting him to unhinged flights of fantasy. The hour’s conclusion casts a softer light on his mother’s parenting. But even with its breakdown of probability and bookkeeping, it’s a show that prioritises laughs over fiscal and emotional learning.
James Trickey, Don’t Count On Me, Pleasance Courtyard, until 24 Aug (not 11), 9.15pm