Silky @ The Lescar

Edinburgh Festival? Who needs it? If you keep your eyes peeled, The Little Last Laugh comedy club, held every Thursday at The Lescar, provides a sneaky July preview of what’s going on up there every year. This was one of their excellent value-for-money shows where two comedians try out their hour-long Edinburgh shows. After an opener from Welsh comedian Steve Williams, on came the main act, Silky. Now he is either a comedian who sings a few songs, or a singer who’s funny in between the music, depending on how the night takes him. He can fill an evening with music, or sing almost nothing as he chats and talks to the audience. As you might guess, it’s an intimate show, with lots of good humoured chat and banter, as we get drawn into Silky’s view of the world. He starts with a song cleverly improvised from topics and themes he’s gathered from chatting with the audience. Comedians often use ideas from the audience, but weaving them into a song is a rare skill indeed. He carried on and reassured us that as the violent fundamentalists have no sense of humour, we were safe from an attack as they certainly wouldn’t be in tonight’s audience. Then he sang a song about making love to a sheep. These are not ‘comedy songs’, in the vein of those performed by a popular ukulele band we all know, but are just a different way of presenting his comedy material. They range from the improvised to the well-constructed, and it’s often easy to over-look what a talented guitar player he is. He’s never going to fill stadiums with his gentle, enjoyable and intimate shows, but those who get him, really get him and will be back for more.