Run Man Show is a self-penned monologue by Joe Donnachie about running 150 miles from Inverness to Glasgow in five days. He tells of his love for running and the reasons he started - to impress a woman he met who also enjoyed running. It's a nervous but interesting start and he tees-up the story to come.

He unpacks the rucksack he took on the run to advise anyone wanting to attempt a similar feat of the best items to take. For each of the objects in this 'workshop', he attempts a joke. But each falls flat, from the tent and sleeping bag, to socks, a tin-opener, a spoon, tins of food, sunblock, torch. There's a seemingly endless number of objects, but the comedian seems to be at a loss to find anything amusing about any - at one point resorting to reading the label from a bottle of insect repellent.

Once the inventory list has been checked and double-checked, Joe Donnachie starts the main part of the show - the story of his five-day run. But he quickly digresses into anecdotes about the last four times he got drunk. These seem, if anything, more tragic that comic and appear to be included in the show more for the performer's own therapy rather than because they are in any way entertaining. A particularly bleak tale about a drunken binge in Romania kills any comedic momentum completely.

He finally starts to recount his experiences during the run but, after 40 minutes, he is only 40 miles into the journey. It feels a lot longer because of a complete lack of comic timing. The set then starts to become more interesting, although not funny, as he tells of the pain during the later part of the run. But by then there are barely five minutes left of the show, and he rushes the last couple of days as if they were incidental to the story, rather than the part which could be most interesting.

The funniest thing about Run Man Show is the pun in the title. The entire monologue is badly-judged and contains not one laugh or well-written joke. This is especially sad as there is an interesting idea desperately trying to escape the fluffed delivery. Had this been a dramatic dialogue about a man's attempts to use running to get his life back on track, it could have been a fascinating look into how a sport can create both a healthy body and mind. The writer has an obvious passion for his subject and has a confident delivery, but he simply has no feel for being funny. As a comedy, unfortunately, this show has simply nothing to commend it.

Cast Credits: Performer - Joe Donnachie.

Company Credits: Writer - Joe Donnachie. Director - uncredited. Technical Operator - uncredited. Producer - uncredited. Company - Joe Donnachie / PBH's Free Fringe.

END

(c) David Hepburn 2008

reviewed Saturday 16 August 2008 / The Mercat Bar, Edinburgh

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

www.fringereport.com