August 16, 2026

Review of Chief Petty Officer

Vix Leyton - Chief Petty Officer

Chief Petty Officer by Vix Leyton is an hour-long free comedy show dedicated to some of the most infamous acts of pettiness, from historic grudges to disputes that have played out much more recently. Wagatha Christie, Count Binface, the Colin the Caterpillar battle between M&S and Aldi, Ea Nasir, pothole birthdays and Stewart Semple vs Anish Kapoor all make an appearance, alongside plenty of other examples. At times, Leyton delivers the whole thing like an academic lecture, complete with a presentation and her “Hill To Die On Index”. The graph measures each petty act by joy on the Y axis and commitment on the X axis, helping Leyton decide which examples of pettiness are actually worth the effort. In her eyes, the ideal petty act gets plenty of attention and satisfaction without requiring a ridiculous amount of work to pull off. It’s a format that works well throughout the hour. Leyton repeatedly returns to the graph to give her verdict before moving onto the next story, which gives the show an easy structure without making it feel too rigid. There’s also something very funny about watching completely ridiculous disputes being assessed with the seriousness of an academic presentation, particularly when Leyton starts adding her own observations and jokes. There’s a good mixture of stories too. Some will be immediately familiar because they dominated headlines at the time, while others are much more obscure or come from further back in history. It means you’re never sitting through an hour of stories you’ve already heard before. Leyton’s enthusiasm for the subject is probably what makes the concept work as well as it does. She isn’t just running through examples of people being petty; she gets into why people become so committed to these disputes and, importantly, whether the payoff was actually worth it. Some victims fight back, some acts of revenge turn out to be nowhere near as satisfying as intended, and others require so much effort that you start questioning who really won. Leyton happily picks them all apart. The mix of storytelling, slides and completely unnecessary levels of analysis gives Chief Petty Officer its own identity beyond the funny subject matter. Better still, the show eventually reveals itself to be a petty act in its own right, with Leyton saving that particular story until the end. It’s a clever way to finish an unusual and very enjoyable hour of comedy, while proving perhaps the most important lesson of all: sometimes being petty isn’t really about winning. Sometimes it’s about committing to something long after any reasonable person would have let it go. ★★★★ 4/5

August 14, 2026  The Edinburgh Reporter

Review of Will Sebag-Montefiore: Game of Phones

This satirical musical comedy show is billed as “an antidote to the manosphere, attempting to take down the worst people on the internet while asking the question, ‘Do I need a hair transplant?’” and it certainly does what it says on the tin. Sebag-Montefiore, 35, wearing a purple satin shirt with black pedal-pushers and sockless loafers, is a bundle of energy as, strumming away fervidly on his guitar, he rips through a raft of self-penned songs lambasting the ne’er-do-well-to-do cabal and social media trolls. Several “right-wing lunatics” are lassoed into a comedic circle and metaphorically whipped until their misogynistic and self-aggrandising proclivities are red-raw. It’s disconcertingly fast but if you miss a joke or two there’s sure to be another close behind. Having a surname that just happens to be the same as what Wikipedia notes is an “influential British-Sephardic Jewish dynasty of financiers, philanthropists and writers” offers up another opportunity to rail at the online bigots who mistakenly assume he is Jewish. The Leeds-raised north Londoner also uses it to poke fun at antisemitic tropes, having failed to land any big acting roles courtesy of his namesakes. The hailstorm of gags is interspersed by a mini-directorial AI voiceover, courtesy of Philippa Carson, the actress, which appears to emerge from an onstage laptop. His gaze also turns inwards, or rather upwards, at his disappearing hairline and his insecurities surrounding it form a running theme throughout the show. Near the end, Harry, a young, with-it member of the free-ticketed audience from Bristol, is invited to replace Sebag-Montefiore on stage to be the foil for a volley of heckles which he lobs over from among the seats. “It’s well-written; he’s on-topic and up-to-date,” Harry says as Sebag-Montefiore hurriedly swipes digital payments from punters before heading off to another show. Click Here

August 12, 2026  The Scotsman

Review of Get Your Geek On: A Nerdy Comedy Showcase

The Geek comes in many forms and this nerd-friendly show celebrates and welcomes all of them. My knowledge of the world of online gaming, cosplay and even Pokemon is minimal, and so I fail utterly to score on the ongoing interactive competition fun, but somehow that doesn't matter. This is a clever and brilliantly executed format with suitably impressive tech (thank you Ally Haig). Juliette Burton is an effervescent and sweetly geeky host, addressing us as “my sweethearts” and keeping up a necessarily hectic pace as there is a lot to fit in. Three guest comics share their obsessions – today bees (Rachel Creeger), cult films (Hanna Platt) and disco music (Chaz Redhead) – which makes for a fascinating break from the many worlds of the virtual. Although I do not really understand the lure of the screen as a playground, the sheer enjoyment and enthusiasm that is obvious in the room is infectious and I almost feel moved to download Space Invaders. Juliette, you may have changed my life. If you are a geek, this is the show for you. If you are not, it is a great gateway experience of Geekdom, my sweethearts. Kate Copstick Click Here

August 8, 2026  The Scotsman

Review of Chief Petty Officer

Review

This is a lovely, friendly way to spend an hour. It is not non-stop hilarity, but it is a great deal of genuine fun, and that is a good chunk of anyone's day. Vix celebrates all that might be construed, and unfairly dismissed, as 'petty' in the world. She categorises it with the help of her hi-tech Hill to Die On graphics array and gallops us through a miasma of small – and not so small – mindedness across the years. It is impossible not to like Vix and so to enjoy with her the vicissitudes of life's lesser debacles from potholes and the Colin the Caterpillar through the historical, the zoological, the celebrity and the political. Pettiness is, it seems, always with us. And jolly entertaining it is, especially when it involves soft porn or huge rap stars with handbags drawn at dawn. I particularly loved Vix's Lesley Gore section and will be heading to download the entire album. When a performer is sharing their genuine fascination with and enjoyment of any subject it makes us enjoy it too. And we do. Although I still cannot believe 50 Cent is so pathetically (and expensively) PETTY Click Here