Live Performance Review: Nidiot: Performed by Jon Richardson, Saturday 13.09.2014 20:00 The Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh

This is the third time I have seen Jon perform, the first time was during the Fringe festival in August 2010 when he was performing in the tiny Pleasance Courtyard Above venue. At that point I had seen him as a guest on Have I Got News For You and thought I would like to check out more of what he had to say. I have always enjoyed the passion of his despair with careless aspects of the modern world and can identify with elements of his fears and pernicketyness.   

This is clearly a step-up in venue size from the Fringe venues I have seen him in, and a lot of his audience will now be drawn from '8 out of 10 Cats' fans. 

I had to intervene with a couple of girls sat next to me who were carrying on their conversation after the performance began, and I was not surprised by the amount of people I couldn't help but be distracted by still having their dumb phones on. Part of the reason I was not surprised is that Jon is fairly mainstream in terms of my tastes in comedy. 

I was impressed by how he has been able to go from doing 1 hour Fringe shows to proper 2 hour shows and not have it drag or feel repetitive. The show was very engaging, inventive and frank. It felt heartening to hear so many people give a positive reaction to someone's 'obsessive-compulsive' neuroses. It almost is enough to suggest that these peccadilloes are more common than those afflicted with them may think.

I find it very difficult to write about some comedy for some reason, and there is no point in me describing what he discussed. It is fair to say I laughed heartily and very much enjoyed the show. I am not sure if I would go again as I am trying to scale back, though at the same time the show was thoroughly enjoyable.  

Rating: 09/10.