Daniel Sloss - The Joker
Ridiculously talented young comedy buck
Daniel Sloss – a charming, elongated Macaulay Culkin doppelganger, and protégé of Frankie Boyle – begins by listing the reasons why people might not like his show. ‘I smile, I swear, I’m happy and I can jump. The ones who won’t like me, they’re the old people.’ Old is an attitude though, insists the 20-year-old Fifer, still the youngest kid on the comedy block, now three full Fringe shows into his career.
The same folks may also dislike Sloss for being staggeringly confident onstage but, thankfully, he reins in any child-star precocity and cockiness with a deftness for very entertaining self-abuse. His ‘prick haircut’, failure to tan and ‘inability to satisfy his girlfriend’ get big laughs, as does his description of himself as a ‘20-year-old paedophile’ after interacting slightly too informally with a 13-year-old boy in the front row.
The past year has seen Sloss audition for the Lord of the Rings film and do gigs in Australia, so dealings with fame provide fresh material, as do his family, who he still lives with in East Wemyss. Age gimmicks aside, Sloss is just a very natural comedian. Being easy-going, quick on your feet, and totally relaxed with the crowd: that never gets old.
Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 29 Aug, 7.35pm, £11.50–£13.50 (£10–£11).