HARDEEP SINGH KHOLI: THE NEARLY NAKED CHEF

17/8/09, Gilded Balloon (Edinburgh Fringe)

Oh dear. He's a charming fellow and a witty one but someone really should have told him that stand-up is a lot harder than it looks and you need plenty of decent MATERIAL. He came on in lilac turban, kilt and Superman T-shirt. He cooked (in theory) while discoursing, though the cookery just got in the way. The jokes weren't funny, the audience didn't laugh, it was impossibly hot.

We'd have left if we hadn't been down the end of the row. As it was plenty did go. Others stayed till the bitter end (it was a sell-out): one thing you can say for Hardeep, his audience are well brought-up and too polite to tell him what they really think of this.