Sean Hughes Stands Up

Gilded Balloon Teviot

Until August 27

★★★★

NOW into his third decade as a stand-up, Sean Hughes returns to the Fringe with a year of abstinence from alcohol behind him and the vestiges of a beer belly in front – or perhaps it's a result of his new-found liking for biscuits, just one of many fortysomething habits he finds himself slipping into. Aging, then, is one of Hughes's new themes and it's ironic that a comic who once had a reputation as a lothario should now be talking about prostate problems and bemoaning his inability to get an erection. Sex is never far away, though. Neither is politics, nor rage, nor that quality which marks out the really, really good stand-ups from the rest – a need to goad and shock audiences with unflinching frankness on matters both personal and cultural. Islam takes a particular hammering here, but there's a little more unease to the laughter when Hughes says Andy Murray's prize for winning his Olympic gold should be non-stop fellatio from "a freckle-faced 16-year-old". Fellatio isn't quite the word he uses, of course. This is far from being Hughes's best-ever stand-up show, but it's a welcome turn from a master of the art.