EDINBURGH FRINGE: Gyles Brandreth Can’t Stop Talking!

When I retired from a career as an arts journalist I remember thinking, Oh no! I won't be able to interview Gyles Brandreth again! Because we all know what a magnificent storyteller (and name-dropper) he is.

Luckily for me (and for him as I review as many of his shows as I can) we have remained friends, which isn't to say that if there was something to criticize I would. There never is.

Brandreth is a consummate performer, storyteller, comedian, orator… everything, rolled into one.

I've seen him so many times you'd think I'd have heard all of his stories. Not a bit of it! I continue to discover, he continues to delight, and I revel in his name-dropping, from the King and Sir John Geilgud (who spent his 90th birthday lunching with Gyles and his wife) to Michael Jackson. 'If name-dropping is not your thing you have come to the wrong show', he quips.

Shimmying on stage to punk song Where's Me Jumper (his jumper collection is as famous as he is), he proudly announces he is the voice behind a TV ad for incontinence pads before explaining his own lifelong problem – verbal incontinence. And then, off we go on another rollercoaster of priceless stories from the man who is in The Guinness Book of Records for the longest ever after dinner speech (12 hours 30 minutes)!). Don't worry, he doesn't do a Ken Dodd. As he bemoans, he is on a tight schedule.

But (of course) he's got a lot more to offer and, he says, no two shows are the same. So I'll be back… if I can get a ticket!

Gyles Brandreth Can't Stop Talking is at Assembly George Square (Gordon Aikman Theatre) until Aug 27 at 16.00 (60 mins) Tickets: assemblyfestival.com