Ismo Leikola: Rogue State Finland

There's something that doesn't quite click about Rogue State Finland, but it's hard to say exactly what. Ismo Leikola is clearly a very funny man, and has to be among the finest Scandinavian observational comics at this year's Fringe. But something stops this rough diamond of a show shining quite as brightly as it should. It's tempting to go straight for the pun here, to say that the young stand-up just isn't quite the finnished article yet (geddit?). But you deserve better than that.

Maybe it's the material. Leikola's slightly awkward stage presence and heavily accented English are instantly charming, and he has some killer lines. "I'll tell some things about Finland," he begins, "and then some other jokes." But there's something overly familiar about the range of subjects on offer, which stretches from sex and religion to the war in Iraq and how crap the weather is in his home country.

If anything, it is to Leikola's credit that he manages to squeeze quite so many laughs out of snoring girlfriends and "doctor, doctor" jokes. The real problem with Rogue State Finland is that, paradoxically, the best moments come when the jokes fall flat. Every time the big Finn fills an uncomfortable silence by mumbling apologetically into his water glass, he has the small but vocal audience in the palm of his hand. It seems a strange thing to say about a stand-up comedian, but perhaps Ismo Leikola would be funnier if he didn't tell so many good jokes.