The “dead dad” show is a fringe comedy cliche. But the “dead dad who was also a mafioso kingpin” show? Not so much. New Jersey native Anthony DeVito long resisted addressing his murky back-story in his work. His father died when he was a baby; what Anthony knew of him was, at his mother’s request, never to be made public. Only now, prompted by a recent heart scare, has DeVito reconsidered. This is his story to tell, and – with a right of veto wielded by his mum – tell it he does, in an engaging bulletin from somewhere adjacent to the dark heart of cosa nostra America.
We’re warned up front that the story might frustrate. DeVito will be imparting details of his dad’s identity only in fragments, because that’s how he found out. And he’s right, it does frustrate a little, as our host dwells on his own scrappy schooldays – when, mysteriously, he was never allowed to watch The Godfather – then on his failed romantic relationships as he finds his feet as an adult.
The idea is to show how rootless he was, guided by only a fantasy father figure, carefully pieced together from scraps Anthony gleaned about his real dad. The show also strives to parallel the son’s young adulthood with that of his beloved mum, who got hitched to a charming Italian-American only to discover she’d bitten off more cannoli than she could chew.
This strategy is only partially successful: the parallels are not strong. We’re left with gnawing questions, too, about the present-day status of DeVito’s clan – and a not-wholly-satisfied curiosity about his father’s career as a “made man”, of which DeVito gives a slightly coy account.
Fair enough: the comedian still has mixed filial feelings, even accounting for the “very heinous reality”, as he puts it, of his dad’s life. There’s an according honesty to this maiden Edinburgh hour. DeVito is an unpretentious and likable comic, and his tale of a family history unearthed is thoughtful and alarming by turns. Not an offer you can’t refuse, perhaps, but an offer well worth accepting.
At the Mash House, Edinburgh, until 28 August.
