What I Saw at the Fringe: Day 7, August 11
I was hoping for a slower day on Thursday after staying out too late again, but started the day by doing a spot as an honorary Canadian at the lovely Eh! Comedy Showcase run by Dion Owen, Andrew Packer, and Jacob Balshin. They have different guests every day (on this day, it was me and Andrew Barr), and it’s a great midday show to see some different acts and kick off your day of comedy. Afterwards, it was flyering time, and Broke in Barcelona time where we had another great lineup of Barcelona residents and our favorite visiting acts.
The first show I saw was Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares?! which I’ve been hearing amazing things about from multiple sources. Leo is incredibly young and incredibly well-established in his voice. The sold-out audience was sweating, but not as much as Leo who was constantly pacing around the stage, breaking into song, and putting on one of the best shows I’ve seen at the Fringe so far. He is the perfect representation of Gen Z culture, mixing ego with self-deprecation, and mixing socially conscious messages with vapid quips. Ultimately, it’s a story about being young, queer, and knowing that the world is a fucking mess and there’s pretty much nothing he can do about it. This show is selling fast and getting amazing reviews all around, so grab your ticket before it’s too late!
To wrap up the night, I had the pleasure of seeing two of our Barcelona superstars Andy Casper and Héctor Ayala: Brexico. This split bill is a little different every night, since both Andy and Héctor are top-notch crowd workers who don’t shy away from improvisation. It’s a late night show, and you can feel them feeding off the audience’s energy throughout the show. Andy opened the show, delivering 30 minutes of hilarious material from his self-proclaimed strange mind about living abroad, working as a primary school teacher, and mental health struggles. Héctor took on the second half, joking about his family, partying with his gay younger brother (and why those parties are way better than straight parties), and how easy it is to find drugs in Europe when you look how he does. It’s an hour of killer, energetic stand up from two fresh new voices in this Fringe debut. Get your tickets to see these comics before they blow up!
