Quite the fringe journey for Ahir Shah this year, who arrived in town with an unready work-in-progress, and has now been nominated, again, for the Edinburgh comedy award. He excuses his poor festival preparation with reference to the recent death of his long-term director Adam Brace who would have surely been proud of Ends. It is a barnstormer of a set from the 32-year-old albeit one that assails the heartstrings at least as much as (OK, more than) the funny bone.
As usual, Shah has at least twice as much to say as most comics on the fringe, and a fervour to say it. His imminent wedding has prompted reflection on duty and “generational sacrifice”, such as the one made by his maternal grandad – or nānājī– when leaving India, alone, to spearhead a new life for his family in northern England. Also as usual, the personal and political intertwine for Shah, who takes the chilly temperature of despairing modern Britain and offers a corrective by asking: what would grandad back in 1964 have thought if given a glimpse of his adopted country today?
