Words: Elodie Marriott

Donning a hot pink kilt and matching shirt, Craig Hill leaps onto the stage, lip syncing along to a Eurovision pop song. This playfulness soon reveals it has an edge, as he locks onto audience members, asking where they’re from, getting increasingly disgusted with each answer. Is there a place in Scotland, even the world, that can escape Hill’s criticism? So far, it seems unlikely. 

There is also nothing that Hill can’t turn into an innuendo, embellishing the joke with a raised eyebrow and flicking his leg up behind him. He makes it clear that he’s the one in charge, shutting down a heckler who attempts to poach his limelight by shouting: ‘I’ll do the jokes, bitch.’ 

Referring to himself throughout as ‘gay boy’, he confidently surveys the room, deciding who he can convince to leave their girlfriend. He is shameless and savage, and he gets away with it.

For the finale, Hill commands, rather than invites, the man who he has deemed the ‘butchest in the audience’ to join him on stage for a tribute to Kylie Minogue’s ‘Padam Padam’, only the lyrics have changed to ‘The tram, The tram’ in celebration of their return to Edinburgh.

Craig Hill: This Gets Harder Every Year
Just the Tonic Nucleus, Atomic Room
19.30
16-20, 23-27 Aug