Fred MacAulay and Friends, Multistory, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 Multistory.  The name just oozes the glamour of showbiz, eh?  But what else do you call the space atop an NCP with a stage loosely protected form the weather by plastic sheeting, and an audience only protected by whatever they'd thought to bring along with them.  Welcome to Fringe 2021.  To be fair, the backdrop is pretty spectacular, with the castle rock towering in the background, topped by impenetrable walls.  And you can go downstairs on to the first level for a drink and a bit to eat.  It's not entirely bleak - they've put a bit of bunting out.

We were lucky.  The earlier rain held off for the duration and the temperature didn't fall toooo far while we were sat there.  And we got a decent show to watch, with plenty laughs, and that's definitely warming after so many many moths without live stand up.

Host Fred MacAulay is a fringe veteran and has an easy charm to his persona.  A few pandemic jokes, a bit of banter with the audience, and we were off.  First guest on was Esther Manito, who had some good lines about the joys of parenting in lockdown, how tired she was of Zoom, why she ended up with glitter on her pudenda when she went for a smear test.  (It should have been Fabreze...).  She was followed by Eshaan Akbhar had his own twists on racism, why he wasn't the fat Romesh Ranganathan, and the strangeness of Asian porn.  Very funny.

Home grown talent to close the show, Glasgow comedian and radio host Des Clarke.  Explaining why Scots are like nobody else in the world, and relating his embarrassing moment carrying the torch for the 2012 Olympics, Des brought a quickfire energy that the others lacked,and rounded off the show well.  

Macaulay has a rotating list of guests on for several nights, so your experience may vary.  As it certainly will if it's raining...  But this feels like a very 2021 show.  Everyone's glad to be back, even if the circumstances are a bit makeshift, and we all just want to enjoy ourselves again.  Don't go expecting anything groundbreaking, but this is a show that will always fit comfortably, like an old cardi.