Aaron Wood’s debut stand-up hour, More to Life is fast-paced, unassuming, and involves the crowd at every turn.
Hailing from Stockport, Wood has bags of Northern wit and confidence, and is genuinely funny with diverse topics (a hypocondriac hamster, his working class background,, autism, genetics).
Wood’s delivery is quick, friendly, and very conversational. When he talks about the craft of comedy, he muses on the supercomics who do arenas versus the bloke who stands up “in a room with 45 people”.
How do you make that leap to telly? Wood certainly has the talent to do it, making his routine look effortless and guiding people to laugh with, as well as at him.
There’s a sense of the absurd about More to Life as well, looking at the curious side of life as well as the everyday.
Whether it is the potentially gossipy therapist or the easy way to get Peter Kay tickets, the perils of heading down nude to a nighttime burglary, the reality of life behind the ‘gram, or whether it’s OK for a man to have hay fever, it’s all here.
The audience seem to lap it up, too, with ripples of laughter throughout the set. I laughed out loud, too, especially at the more surrealist bits, and at the segments I reocgnised as a fellow Northerner.
It’s a more than decent show that doesn’t try to be too clever, but is more complex than it first appears.
I’d happily buy a ticket to see Wood’s future shows, and wish him well in his quest to make it big (if that’s what he wants, he might just want to take wonky photos on holiday and go home to a house full of hamsters nibbling carrots).
Keep an eye on him for the future.
4 stars.
Aaron Wood: More to Life is at Edinburgh Fringe now but then tours through Sep/Oct – grab your tickets here.
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