Sean McLoughlin ***

Sometimes a slightly awkward comedian can make the audience feel awkward too, and stifle the number of laughs and enjoyment of the show. If you say you are crap, then people will think you're crap unless it's blatantly obvious you're not.

Sean McLoughlin is capable of talking about his own poverty, and even his own sexual problems and how terrible he is at life in general without losing the audience at all.

Talking about America, working in a call centre, sex and being pessimistic in general are all well trodden paths and it can be pretty easy for comedians broaching these subjects to venture into narratives that will be familiar to most hardened comedy fans, but his material was not too unoriginal and mostly well observed.

For a comic doing his first Edinburgh Festival this is a very competent show.

Unfortunately when I was there he forgot his ending... which he owned up to on stage. If he hadn't I might not have noticed and just assumed that he hadn't thought up a very big ending...

If he had nailed the ending, his material and likeability was good enough that he could possibly have earned himself four stars... the potential is there and he has some great jokes, but unfortunately he did forget it, so I can only give him three for that reason.

I've certainly paid more to see a lot worse and with him being a Fringe newcomer, there is no reason why he can't do a lot better in the future.