This Review is from August 2026

According to the grumpy guy behind the bar, who clearly never went to PR school, Jonathan Rudge is performing to half empty rooms.  Not sure what the comedian had done to piss the barman off, but I’m judging the art, not the artist, so I entered Stay at Home Son with an open mind.

The comedian’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut show concerns the abusive relationship between the performer and his flatmate, who also happens to be his elderly dad. There is no tenderness here. Jonathan treats his father disgracefully, for our entertainment, and it just isn’t funny.

Things do warm up when the performer discusses his time in TV production. He worked behind the scenes at a very popular live TV show, but his hints of scandal are just hints, presumably because of legal issues. Still, there are some solid jokes and hearty laugh out loud moments. Once he gets going he’s pretty good.

There is a great deal of potential here. But for now, the stage character of Jonathan Rudge is charismatic, engaging and thoroughly unlikeable. Once he stops punching down, he’ll begin getting somewhere.

Martin Walker