The day you accidentally get stuck in the middle of Tommy Robinson’s “Unite the Kingdom” rally on the way to a fancy dress party in a full viking costume, may not be the best day of your life — but it will provide you with an hour of stand-up material for the Edinburgh Fringe. Omar Badawy’s Fringe debut is a unique personal, and literal journey with many Detours, which all collide into a portrait of the English-Egyptian comedian’s identity.
Despite his repeated personal observation that he’s not confident in making his own big decisions, Badawy’s delivery and storytelling is remarkably self-assured. It helps that the set is truly air-tight, with every anecdote and observation feeding into the comedian’s narrative framework. The main story of Badawy getting swept up in the far-right march, is thoroughly entertaining both in its absurd concept and even more hilarious progression. Each seeming tangent is woven into a climax of self-realisations about Badawy’s life, his upbringing as well as his relationship and future, with each of them paying off in a thoughtful and satisfying way.
The comedian’s material about his cultural identity is where the several roads of the story really converge. Badawy airs out his childhood frustrations about attending a Christian school and becoming his class’ misguided poster-child when learning about ancient Egypt, as well as being the only child with a culturally-accurate costume in the Nativity despite having a non-speaking part. The stories about his family’s expectations as well as his own adjustment to both sides of his identity as a person of Egyptian heritage living in England, are fantastic in their reflection and self-awareness. The comedy remains wonderfully original throughout, but I’d say that it is Badawy’s style and effortless conversational tone while delivering a work so obviously polished and thought out, that makes the set most compelling.
The framing of Badawy’s strange odyssey through the far-right march, allows the comedian to seamlessly use political observational humour naturally and in perfect measure. Badawy approaches the subject of politics at a very human and personal level while remaining openly critical and intelligent, as he describes the experience of being unassumingly dragged into a less-than-friendly crowd. With the concept being so strong and fresh, I’m very glad that Badawy doesn’t let the obvious fish-out-of-water humour of the situation do the heavy lifting for him. Instead, the story feels more like the backbone of an already developed and inventive body of work, and Badawy manages to subvert expectations with engaging twists and turns which enhance the humour far beyond the show’s tagline.
Overall, Guided Detour is a hilarious and accomplished Fringe debut, and Badawy is certainly a comedian to watch.
Omar Badawy: Guided Detour is running until 28 August at Bunker One at Pleasance Courtyard. Buy Tickets here.
Image by Matt Stronge, provided to The Student for press use.
