Review: Mat Ewins: Ewins Some You Lose Some

Fans of Mat Ewins’ fast-paced, tech-based inventiveness will love his new show, a dense and frenetic collection of nerdy madness.

In Ewins Some You Lose Some (subversively tagged as “a capella/painting” in the Fringe guide), he’s larking about with the idea of pitching a gameshow to American television, and has conceived and created a bunch of funny computer games to play with the audience.

I don’t want to give too much away, but highlights include a choose your own adventure-style marriage proposal scenario, a destructive take on spot the difference games and something outrageous to do with XL bullies. And he shows a brief clip of himself in what he claims was his precursor to Drunk History; that’s something I would love to see on network television.

Ewins has got some brilliant onscreen cameos from fellow comics too – both past winners of the Edinburgh Comedy Award. Someone who’s been very much in the news of late appears, demonstrating a gruesome peccadillo, while another busts some impressive dance moves.

Once again, his collaborator and fast-thinking tech, Kate Palmer (now his fiancée) is on hand to heighten the interactivity, activating, for example, some of his pre-recorded reactions to audience input. It’s so fast, funny and clever you’ll want to go back and catch everything you missed.