by ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
“Beautiful things don’t come out of my mouth. They come into it.”
That’s how Guy Branum cheekily explains why he doesn’t sing, despite being a gay man over 40. And yet, if he’s not going to sing for his supper, he doesn’t yet have a properly platformed stand-up comedy special, and he cannot produce offspring, then what value does he have in society as a bald, fat, gay man? Branum may deconstruct the one-person show as a statement of purpose to open his Fringe hour, but befitting someone who wrote for and recurred in Hacks (he was not only a co-executive producer, but also appeared onscreen as head of the Little Debbies fan club), you bet your sweet ass that he will stand and deliver a highly polished one-person show. And it’s better than anything you’d seen from Deborah Vance on Hacks, simply because Guy is a real guy, and not just a stereotypical character playing for broad laughs or melodrama. While he may not be fruitful and multiply as the scriptures may want, he will have plenty of jokes about fruit and everything else to make you think and believe Branum should someday film this hour as his properly improper comedy special. And he won’t need any gimmicky plot devices to get him to Madison Square Garden or Central Park to do so. Even a billiard room in a castle will suffice. Although he deserves a much wider audience.
Guy Branum: Be Fruitful plays the Billiard Room at Gilded Balloon Teviot during the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe.
