James Veitch: Genius Bar, Edinburgh Fringe, review - New comedy show draws on time working as a Genius at the Apple Store
His guileless replies to phishing emails provide the bulk of the laughs
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Your support makes all the difference.This is a show, says James Veitch, for anyone who has ever had a broken heart, or a broken iPhone.
It has wide appeal, then, and it continues with the zeitgeisty themes of his debut last year, in which he took on email scammers at their own game.
This time the subject is Veitch's old job, as a Genius at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York. He delivers it in the manner of a Steve Jobs-style keynote, complete with slides, face mic and - less predictably - piano.
Veitch's topic is not how to fix smashed screens and frazzled motherboards - though that would be a surefire sellout - but rather more fundamental issues. When the love of his life left him, he set about applying the principles he once used to fix strangers' iPhones and iPods to fix his relationship. It's a neat premise, structured around the stages of tech troubleshooting - reboot, diagnostics, stress test and so on.
At this stage the constituent parts still feel a little disjointed, leaping around from the lessons of Super Mario to prankish forays into online dating. His guileless replies to phishing emails reappear too and provide the bulk of the laughs. Veitch has found a nerdy niche with his comic lectures about modern technology and he brings his hour to a clever close. If his delivery is nervy and relies too heavily on his screen-notes, these are early glitches that will surely be ironed out in time.
Pleasance Courtyard, 4.45pm, to 30 August (0131 556 6550; www.edfringe.com)
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