Fringe Binge 2017 Show #49 - Next Best Thing - How To Be Good At Everything; Pleasance Courtyard, 1645, 16-Aug-17

I hadn't booked many shows this day - my first wasn't until 1835 - which allowed me to catch up on reviews but did leave me at something of a loose end about 1430. A quick look online for something that might fit into the time slot and locale revealed a new (to me) comedy duo called Next Best Thing.

Next Best Thing are London-based duo Katie Davison and Jay Bennett, with the former playing the role of the earnest, serious one and the latter playing the role of the kooky, eccentric one. The theme of the show was they were going to teach us everything about everything, which was a nice hook but was a springboard into a series of surreal mimed sketches, audience interactions, bizarre scenarios and improvisation.

For a good while I thought I was experiencing my first genuine bust of the Festival. The duo bounced in and ran around the audience high-fiving, whooping and cheering, then launched into quite a bizarre set of scenarios. They asked for topics from the audience, each selected a male "victim" who they would shamelessly flirt with throughout the show (including an extended masturbation mime Ms. B carried out on her choice) and the topics covered included how to house a pet salmon, miming hats and first-date scenes, needing a wee and poo in one's pants, choosing a new housemate, explosive nose bleeds and all manner of other nonsense. It was initially very grating (to me) and was not working for me at all. Fortunately the girls won me over and by the end, while I wouldn't say I was fully onboard, I was at least starting to have some fun. I will admit that they were both young (terrifyingly young - surely they were some kind of A-Level drama-studies group), pretty and enthusiastic and that goes a long way in my shallow book.

They concluded the show by admitting they had failed to teach us everything about everything, but they went around the audience, including me, to see if anyone had learned anything. Guess what? We all had ... so it ended on a cheery upbeat note. As we filed out the girls were handing out "Good At Everything" stickers but I declined to put one on my jacket (boo, spoilsport).

They were good performers, and you couldn't deny the energy and imagination they brought. But I just couldn't escape the nagging feeling that, despite the duo rescuing it, I had just seen my least favourite show of the Fringe so far.