Edinburgh Fringe: SNL UK writer Ayo Adenekan returns with a personal but uneven summer-romance show
Comedian and Sky's Saturday Night Live UK writer Ayo Adenekan presents his second Edinburgh fringe solo show, built around a summer romance interwoven with family and identity material. A review praises his talent while noting several underdeveloped ideas.
Edinburgh comedian Ayo Adenekan has returned to the fringe with his second solo show, Homeland Insecurity, a year after his debut led to a job writing for Sky's Saturday Night Live UK, including jokes performed by Ncuti Gatwa.
A summer romance at the centre
The 24-year-old opens the hour by describing it as a love story: a brief but meaningful summer romance set against the backdrop of the Edinburgh fringe. Around that thread, he weaves material about his relationship with his father, his "straight white man friends," and his irritation last year when a namesake comedian travelled up from London and, in his view, stole some of his spotlight.
The show also features a recurring visual gag about product placement, though a review of the performance notes that Adenekan never fully commits to developing the joke. A similar sense of an unfinished idea surrounds a routine about his discomfort dating black men.
Strengths and rough edges
The review credits Adenekan with sharp joke-writing and genuine warmth that wins over the audience, but says his delivery tends to be flat in pace and that several ideas could use another draft. Repeated references to his gratitude for returning to the venue after last year's success are said to have had a diminishing effect rather than building goodwill.
At the same time, the review highlights Adenekan's distinctive perspective as a queer Scottish-African comedian and his knack for sharp one-liners, including a line about his Nigerian family's relationship to their Muslim identity. Despite the summer romance narrative feeling somewhat generic overall, the review concludes Adenekan has the material to build something more distinctive.
Homeland Insecurity runs at CabVol @ Monkey Barrel in Edinburgh until 30 August.
