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Edinburgh Fringe Review: Brexit Through the Gift Shop is a hilarious rollercoaster through the idiocies of government

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FORMER advisor to the Labour Party, Matt Forde provides a comedic journey through the idiocies of Brexit in this hilarious rollercoaster of the hidden and public happenings of government.

The show’s opening lines bring us to the point that the previous political divides no longer exist. There’s no real lefty or right wing, right or wrong anymore – when it comes to Brexit and our current political climate, it really all just boils down to whether you’re either sane or not.

If you feel guilty about not knowing much about Brexit, or really what on earth is going on in government in general (so most of us), this is the show for you. With it’s many hilarious, but also very useful analogies, it breaks down the goings on in parliament with impressive wit, insider knowledge and tear inducing, uncanny impressions.

Forde certainly makes his way through down talking everyone, even his own previous political party. Although like most of the mainstream media, he doesn’t give the green party much air time, except to mention some unfortunate mishap to a dolphin in the first half of the show.

However, this leads him to a right good go at Jeremy Corbyn, who he brands the political equivalent of David Brent, and of course he couldn’t not lay into Theresa May, and her promises of a Brexit dividend – which Forde tells us, essentially just means we’re “skint.” Next comes an extensive comedic slamming of a whole range of political characters: Nicola Sturgeon, Gerry Adams, Tim Fallon and Vince Cable, David Davies, Alex Salmond, and of course everyone’s favourite, Donald Trump, who Forde notes, isn’t all bad – “don’t say I don’t do anything for ya, I let you out of the cage!”

Forde finishes on a more sincere, endearingly hopeful note – a speech made completely from scratch, with no outsider influence whatsoever. Though, like most of the politicians he demeans throughout the show, I’ll let you take that with a pinch of salt.

 

Verdict: 

A great hour of comedy, and while many shows at this years Fringe are focussing on Brexit, I’d say you’ll be hard pushed to find one as funny and on the mark as this.