2011 Edinburgh Fringe
Steve Pretty review
The stage is littered with musical instruments, wires and obscure objects as today's slightly undersized audience are let into the Belly Dancer. This is Steve Pretty's collection of stuff; like many of us he's a hoarder and has large amounts of junk. This sets the scene well for the Perfect Mixtape, a show focusing on his love of music.
Like a young Bill Bailey, Pretty performs humorous musical pieces interjected with jokes. Also like Bill Bailey, it is the musical numbers which are the strongest bits of the set. He is a very gifted musician and his superb trumpet playing was something to be marvelled at. Many of the musical numbers were also technically ambitious, and although some of these weren't as slick as they could have been, it was still very impressive. However the show did feel like Pretty was somewhat of a failed musician.
Although there were humorous moments to this hour, there simply wasn't enough to qualify it as a comedy piece. When the jokes did come they felt a bit forced and not entirely natural with Pretty's persona. The feeling of the performance was, overall, quite shambolic. These shows can be the highlight of the Fringe for me, but creating a good shambolic show needs a lot of skill. At times the show just felt a bit messy. Unrelated bits were thrown together with the loose premise of the mix tape, and the more serious ending felt a bit bolted on and lacked relevance to the rest of the show.
But Pretty is likable enough and he has enough charisma to pull the show through. The audience participation was perfectly enjoyable, and Pretty does a good job of making the audience feel integral through the group pieces. But at best, this show is like an entertaining lecture or a visit to a quirky mate's garage. More structure, and simply more jokes are what's needed to make this a great comedy show.
Steve Pretty's Perfect Mixtape listing