Adam Riches: master of audience interaction

So many comedy acts use audience interaction to cover up for their material’s lack of substance. Adam Riches is different. He trusts his audience’s intelligence, and demands more of them than any other performer. Combining this with his own masterful improvisation, The Inane Chicanery of a Certain Adam GC Riches is the gold standard for audience interaction at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

Every sketch in Riches’ show starts with a ludicrous character. Coming on stage wearing a kilt, he launches into an impression of Gerard Butler. Later, he portrays a calligrapher who has legs for arms. He then pulls in random members of the audience to finish the sketches with him. As the demands he makes of his audience get more bizarre and outrageous, Riches shows what a masterful improviser he is.

The fierce intelligence of this show puts others to shame. Riches’ characters are varied and intriguing, but it’s his reactions to the audience, to their responses and idiosyncrasies, that takes this show to the next level. An hour isn’t enough to contain this generous, inventive performer.

Christian Butler is a spiked columnist. Follow him on Twitter: @CPAButler

The Inane Chicanery of a Certain Adam GC Riches is at the Pleasance Dome until 27 August.