Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Edinburgh Fringe Review: Environmental economist Matt is onto a Winning formula with educational laughs in Filibuster

Matt Winning
Matt Winning

NOT many come to the Edinburgh Fringe to watch a man go through a PowerPoint on climate change.

But then again, not many presentations are like Matt Winning’s.

Set at The Mash House in a room that resembles the upturned hull of a boat, the environmental economist and university lecturer confesses that he didn’t get the necessary time off work to perform at the Fringe, so this is essentially an extension of his day job.

After some early laughs at his pontifications on Boots Meal Deals and his name brilliantly being Doctor Winning, he launches into his all singing, all dancing presentation – with no cool animation effect spared.

Interspersed within his graphs and projections for the world’s impending doom are quickfire punchlines and clever wordplay that have the audience in stitches.

All throughout he’s making it personal with the story of his breakup and bitter quips about his former lover.

In the end it’s a perfect lecture.

It’s not boring and never comes across as preachy, even during the section lamenting Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

He clearly knows his subject well – after all it is his day job.

He’s funny throughout and creatively so, with his ‘technical troubles’ seamlessly gliding into brilliant jokes to keep the show going.

Winning’s addictive personality shines through in his love of Ban-Ki-Moon, his Toast Under Beans recipe and ‘the single best joke about greenhouse gases ever written’.

There’s even a gameshow built-in to the hour long show, with a can of beans for under that toast going to the winner.

The Attic at The Mash House

VERDICT

****1/2

Winning’s sharp wit and intelligence allows him to educate as he entertains in this excellent stand-up seminar.

A tale of a man struggling with a break up may in fact be the perfect metaphor for the troubles our world faces – as pessimistic as it sounds.

Only the brilliance of this Jekyll and Hyde in both comedy and academia could make such a prophecy of potential damnation this compelling.

A great show that’s worth checking out for a surprisingly fun overview of how we’re all doomed…


Just the Tonic at The Mash House, Until August 27, 5pm

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/matt-winning-filibuster