Tom Parry review – bringer of comfort and joy

That title, “Parryoke!”: the pun, the exclamation mark, the reference to karaoke. I must admit I went into Tom Parry’s show fearing a certain amount of heavily enforced audience participation, at the very sober hour of 6pm.

I should have trusted Parry more. As one-third of the sketch heroes Pappy’s, he was always the lord of misrule, a performer of utmost generosity and unfakeable enthusiasm, and he remains just that. Besides, any karaoke duties he carries out himself. Parryoke! is his second solo show after his best newcomer nomination in 2015, and it is a tribute to, and a dissection of, weddings, especially the speeches. He charts his journey from being someone who went to more music festivals than weddings, to the complete opposite, from guzzling drugs to guzzling canapes. Earlier this year he got hitched himself.

The show cracks along, with Parry taking us through some of the classic wedding tropes: the bad jokes, the emotional parents, the dance circles that inevitably spring up at about 9.30pm, and his own technique for getting out of them. Along the way there are very funny routines on unwanted Christmas presents, a bored Shane Richie and a family trip to see his beloved Wolves.

There is a Peter Kay-ish feel to it all, not just in the subject matter, but also in the comfiness and strong whiff of nostalgia. This is not challenging comedy. But that can be OK: comedians can’t all be edgelords; we need bringers of joy, too, and Parry is one of the best around.

The comfiness mustn’t deflect from his honed comic instincts, either, as an hour of meaty fun-times is harder than it looks. There are no duff routines; everything is there for a reason. And in classic Pappy’s style, he brings together elements of the show as it goes along in a smart and satisfying way. Having said that, his big, bungling finale of doing The Power of Love at his own wedding karaoke is probably 10% too contrived. The only other wrinkle is a mini-speech at the end about all the division in the world, which is relevant, but a sledgehammer we don’t need. Otherwise, Parryoke! is all smiles. And you don’t have to sing a note.

• At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 26 August.

• Read all our Edinburgh festival reviews.