Edinburgh Fringe Review: See Novellie, Hear Novellie, Speak Novellie is an hour of authentically intelligent comedy

A man on the rise, Pierre Novellie already has an impressive resume of radio and TV experience, as well as a number of prestigious comedy nominations under his belt.  

A South African Manxman and self proclaimed “man without a team,” his new show, See Novellie, Hear Novellie, Speak Novellie is an hour of sharply crafted and intelligent comedy that pokes a satirically pointed finger at almost every team there is.

He takes us on a global and political journey around the world, using his own “political homelessness” as a tool to explore identity and what that word means to the world and his adopted British homeland in 2018.

From Austria’s far right coalition, to gender, to veganism, to the British Empire, Pierre provides an extremely well researched and richly detailed show on the world’s many identified groups, at many points migrating into intellectually high brow. Indeed, he says at one point himself the show “should come with footnotes.”

His quips and analogies are funny, yet extremely thought provoking, with his “outsider looking in” stance providing a fresh look at European and British customs. In particular, a re-naming of the Queen as “money nana” who sits “wearing the stolen jewels of defeated nations and war regalia,” in a comparison of her Christmas speech with the frightening onslaught of a military coup.

His seamless, relaxed transition of critiques on the world’s teams are interspersed with impressive stats and figures as well as funny side steps into anecdotes on chickens and the differences between Britain and Europe’s social etiquette. It may be intellectual, but it’s also really funny.

Verdict: ★★★★

With a wiseness far beyond his years, there’s an authentic level of original thought packed into Pierre’s performance, peppered with much rationale and an intelligently thought-out comedic flair.