Anna Burnside reviews a stand-up set that 'deserves the recognition this seems set to bring'.
Young Finlay is a likeable poshish boy who likes to smoke weed and watch nature shows on telly. He recently tried listening to the radio but found a report on how the cost-of-living crisis hits old people sounded more like bragging.
When an old lady explained that she couldn’t afford to heat her house, he heard a boast about how she owned a property. When she couldn’t get up the stairs, that was just showing off about the size of the place.
Christie is 25 and, while a lot of his material is aimed squarely at his similarly-aged army of YouTube admirers, there’s much here for the oldies to appreciate.
His clear eye on his generation’s obsessions allows him to poke fun at neurodivergence which he, unusually for a comedian in Edinburgh in August, does not claim on any of his bios.
For those in the audience who used their bus pass to get to the venue, this is both fresh and very welcome.
All of the above is part of his bullet-point guide to being cool as a privileged person. Other top tips are to become socially conscious (this seems to involve having sex with a Brazilian girl with a dick), take a bullshit arts degree, having an interracial relationship and death.
A key suggestion, getting into rap, is a cue to relive some of the cringiest moments of his own, very recent, youth, when he and the other children of lawyers and dentists chronicled the privations of life in their leafy hood.
Christie is really talented and has funny ideas as well as the kind of timing that makes it all look effortless. He deserves the recognition this seems set to bring.
Finlay Christie: I Deserve This performs at Monkey Barrel Comedy until August 25, 2024 (no performance August 13th).
Photo by Rebecca Need-Menear.
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