Words: Robert Parker-White

4 stars

Adrian Bliss has amassed a large following from his various short form videos on Tik Tok, Instagram and YouTube. This is their debut solo show that fleshes out his softly spoken, fourth-wall breaking historical comedy.

We start at the very beginning of time itself, with Adrian hilariously blasting onto the stage as an atom from this Big Bang, this is a smart device that brings together a mad-cap tour of history as we follow the atom going “inside everyone” from the prehistoric to the modern era.

Adrian always has his eye on the ridiculous, but don’t let his infectious love of puns, cliche and frivolity fool you – this is very smart work. He manages to bring a sense of normality and the mundane into even the most epic periods of history. He captivates the audience with his irreverent fun and cheeky glances. The highlights of the show include a camp dinosaur having difficulty choosing his final pose before the asteroid turns him into a fossil, Julius Caesar ordering a salad from his work canteen and an outside of the box Pandora origin story.

Occasionally his reliance on visual gags, which are fantastic but take too much time, drops the pace. It might be a trapping of transferring from short form video to full length sketch show but some of the atom transitions take a little too long for the pay off to be fully effective.

But this is still a terrifically surreal debut that blends history with comedy and has a truly unique perspective. The show concludes by speaking about the unity of everything, that we are all connected as we are all made up of the same stuff.

He is completely sold out for the rest of the run but if you missed his show, Adrian Bliss: Inside Everyone transfers to the Soho Theatre 18th-30th September.

Adrian Bliss: Inside Everyone
Pleasance Dome, AceDome
16.10
23-27 Aug