Review by Harri Dimdore-Miles

Bunker Two at Pleasance Courtyard

James Trickey’s Split” gives us an hour of tightly packed comedy, touching on Trickey’s mixed Cambodian British heritage, the peculiarities of male friendship and importantly him being punched at last years fringe. Trickey enters in a boxing helmet with high energy and a knowing cheekiness as he explains he is taking no risks this year, quickly assigning ‘the toughest man in the room’ as his personal bodyguard.

Trickey is relaxed with the crowd, and despite it being a slightly quiet night he never allows any uncomfortableness that can sometimes come with empty chairs. The comedy is thick and fast, generating a pretty consistent though sometimes hushed laugh from the audience. His observational comedy is cutting, witty and relatable and we start to understand that Trickey is a man who often looks around and thinks ‘why do humans (particularly men) do that’ –answer because they are ridiculous. This perspective guides us through some slightly commonplace topics like all you can eat buffets and office habits with varying levels of amusement.

The more unique and absorbing elements of the hour included frankly unbelievable and open storytelling about Trickey’s family. Here we felt like we got to understand more about who was standing in front of us and you could sense the audience softening with this greater candidness. Nonetheless Trickey remains light and teasing whilst expertly balancing this with personality and genuine perspective.

Beyond this Trickey does move towards deeper sentiment. He reaches to speak about friendship and being more honest with yourself and your pals about whether you are okay. The message seems to be one of accepting that life is serious and hard sometimes and is generally worthy of sincerity and vulnerability. This is a powerful message. It is made stronger by Trickey then being vulnerable with the room. He reveals that the jokes he makes throughout about being assaulted at the Fringe hide feeling of genuine hurt and humiliation. However, this payoff does not quite have the punch that it has the potential to have. Whether that be connecting with the crowd more, a greater shift in cadence of delivery, or spending longer on the more earnest through line – there is more to give here. If this element gets more attention the show could be a real winner.

Trickey has real, genuine potential to fiercely balance charming, ribbing stories and observations with bigger-picture, poignant life philosophy. He is very likeable, obviously smart and perceptive. He also has a number of varying comedic styles (which helps to keep an audience engaged), including jovial silliness reminiscent of online comedian Jack Joseph and scathing honesty adjacent to Daniel Sloss. Trickey has the promise of being a seriously powerful comedian who packs out rooms with both laughter and feeling.

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