Review: Ed Gaughan: The Emperor, Just the Tonic at The Caves  

I was excited to see Ed Gaughan doing his own standup – after all, he’s played Baron Greenback in Danger Mouse and more recently appeared at Shakespeare’s Globe on a couple of occasions where he was an absolute scene-stealer, even surrounded by really proper actors! So I knew he was a bit special (not in that way) when I popped along for his one-man show, The Emperor at Just the Tonic at the Caves, as part of EdFringe. But nothing could have prepared me for this. The man delivers an absolute ‘What the f* just happened there?’ show and it is hilarious, audience friendly and utterly magnificent. Within moments of taking my seat I was embarrassingly laughing out loud and by the end was in pain – in a good way, probably with snot all over my face (watch the show to understand more). 

It starts with the simple premise that he’s on a Radio Devon show investigating his family history. Turns out he’s recently discovered his dad wasn’t who he thought he was and there’s something of a story to be told there, including a large shipment of semen from 18th-century Corsica…  

Gaughan relates the excruciating tale of the worst ever gig, where the poster alone is enough to induce agony and there are bigots aplenty. He goes on to introduce a whole range of utterly bonkers characters, from the amazing Steven the Magician, to a selection of his dodgy relatives, to the delightful historian Lucy Worsley. And it’s characters that Gaughan does best, with a whirlwind of astounding regional accents that are delivered with precision and speed. From Ireland to Devon, to the North East of England, we cover considerable ground across some crazy scenarios. These range from village fetes (described as “Nuremberg Trials with bunting”), to Brexit and bigotry, to the decline of Morrissey. Guided from history to a horror story, there’s a sleepily delicate “forest animal” Worsley, who needs to be kept awake with Haribo treats, and Frankenstein’s Monster’s brother appears, understatedly camp and middle class and weirdly French… All that for the price of a ticket! 

It’s a crafted kintsugi of a set, and ultimately Gaughan brings these fragments of bewildering nonsense together to achieve a clear elucidation of the political dangers of placating the manbaby, albeit as exemplified by Claude Van Damm. I never expected that at 13.05 on a Tuesday afternoon in Edinburgh! 

Gaughan’s additional talent is as a jazz guitarist, and musical moments interspersed throughout the show are an absolute joy, adding texture along with space to collect yourself and wring out your snotty hanky. There’s clearly another show to be had there, which I’d pay good money to see. 

I’m literally in pain from laughing right now but would undoubtedly be going again if I had a Fringe slot to spare. I have rarely seen anything quite so intelligently unhinged. Grab your Nurofen and get along there for a side-splitting, ridiculous hour of clever, crafted comedy and music from an absolute master.  

Written and composed by: Ed Gaughan 

Ed Gaughan: The Emperor plays at Just the Tonic at the Caves until Saturday 29 August for EdFringe.