The Family-Friendly Stand-Up Show: Adelaide Fringe 2024 Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars for the performer’s keen wit and intelligent wordplay.
Review by Carla Caruso
British comedian and freestyle rapper Chris Turner might be a new name to me, but he’s definitely not a performer I’ll forget.
The 34-year-old has notched up 435,000 subscribers on YouTube thanks to his jaw-dropping, improvisational rap skills.
Now based in the US, he’s the first comedian to have ever performed a Las Vegas residency with Cirque du Soleil and he scored a standing ovation when he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
At his Fringe show at Gluttony, Chris combines freestyle rap, musical comedy, and stand-up in a way that’ll have “the whole family cracking up”.
He begins the performance by interacting with audience members, asking them personal details like their names and occupations. Then he surprises everyone by turning all he’s learned into a freestyle rap – on the spot. As he says, “This is all made-up, it isn’t [already] written.” The only things aiding him are a microphone and keyboardist.
The way Chris can, one minute, be asking questions of the audience, then immediately go into a rap, without scrambling for words, is amazing. Attempt it yourself at home and see how hard it is. (According to his website, he has a card game that can help with that, though: Rap Battles – The Hip-Hop Rhyming Word Game for Wannabe MCs.)
He does the same trick later in the show, getting the audience to throw out random topics – ranging from Fortnite to Spiderman – and again turns it all into a seamless rap number.
Then he walks through the crowd, asking people to hand over random objects, from a bum bag to a toy rabbit, and manages to weave it all into another free-flowing rap. It kinda feels like you’re watching a kid-friendly version of Eminem’s 8 Mile movie.
In between rapping, Chris cracks funnies and isn’t afraid to mock himself. This includes revealing that he went to Oxford – “imagine how proud my mother is that I’m a rapper” – and lamenting the fact that he’s chinless. Although, he says: “Even without a chin, I can still do everything, except fold a towel [beneath mine]”.
He also performs a song from his adults-only Fringe show, Childish, about being an eighties kid. (Most of the lyrics would’ve gone over the heads of the youngsters there, but as an eighties kid myself, I appreciated the tune.)
Chris’s energetic, interactive performance left us all on a high.
After the show, we zipped across to Rundle Street eatery Milky Lane for a bite — which felt appropriate with the faces of rappers adorning the walls and hip-hop music playing. (Deep-fried Golden Gaytime, anyone?)
The Family-Friendly Stand-Up Show is on at The Kingfisher at Gluttony (Rymill Park, city) until Sunday 17 March 2024. Rated G.
CLICK HERE FOR SHOW INFO & TICKETS
For more information, please visit the Adelaide Fringe website.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post. The Play & Go team review via media accreditation and when kindly invited.
All photos by Play & Go Adelaide (main photo supplied).
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