Wil Hodgson

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This is Hodgson's eighth Fringe, and it will no doubt be a source of some disappointment to him that his career has taken him no further than the tiny Stand 4 venue. Indeed, his level of enthusiasm for the gig is such that he seems to pick an empty chair in the front row and hurriedly deliver his material to it, breaking to make eye contact with other members of the audience only infrequently.

Hodgson's material follows a gently whimsical path that sits in stark contrast with his thuggish, skinhead appearance. Indeed, on closer inspection, one can see that his tattoo-sleeved arms are peppered not with the traditional skulls and heavy metal symbols, but with Care Bears and cartoon Catwomen. Indeed, it's through playing with the contradiction between one's perception of Hodgson and the reality that much of his comedy comes. 

Unfortunately, too much of Hodgson's material relies upon his audience's shared passion for obscure pop-cultural references from three decades ago; a shared passion which just isn't there. His lengthy material on reggae star and notorious homophobe Buju Banton and on whether the Care Bears were the world's only perfectly communist society falls flat as a result.

It's a shame, because Hodgson is a good, seasoned performer. Indeed, what he has to say on the history of skinheads and his portrayal of them as much more than the knuckle-headed, racist and neanderthal stereotype of mainstream thinking is genuinely interesting, insightful and funny.