The arrival of a new Kieran Hodgson set can’t fail to excite fringe-goers: his three nerdy, intensely funny shows in the late 2010s (on cycling, classical music and Britain’s relationship with Europe) were each rightly nominated for the Edinburgh comedy award. This year’s return is particularly mouthwatering for we north Britons, as the Yorkshireman turned soft southerner addresses Anglo-Scottish relations and his move to Glasgow, where, as an actor in the sitcom Two Doors Down, he has lived since 2020. If that sounds tailor-made to titillate Edinburgh crowds – well, Hodgson does not disappoint.
From its introduction onwards, it’s a show that delights in teasing its audiences, English and Scottish both, and in having its (Dundee) cake and eating it. In a heavy Scottish accent, Hodgson voices concerns about Englishmen aping Scottish accents. National stereotypes are undermined – but also zeroed in on for laughs, as with a fantasy musical sequence that finds immigrant Kieran welcomed tae Glesga by the kitsch music-hall star Harry Lauder. But, cheerfully wise to the shoogliness of the endeavour, Hodgson keeps both plates spinning: the dream of reinventing himself as Scottish, and the acknowledgment that “Scottish” is a complicated category.
