Michael Che, Edinburgh Fringe review: a supremely laidback hour from The Daily Show/ Saturday Night Live star

The American comedian is performing his second stand-up show at the Fringe

Saturday Night Live's Michael Che is performing his second stand-up show at the Edinburgh Fringe (Mindy Tucker)

“I had to leave The Daily Show. They were too smart for me'” so claims Michael Che at the start of his hour.

The American comedian was briefly a correspondent on the show before he was hired to join the cast of Saturday Night Live (having been a writer on the show previously). So he is clearly plenty smart enough, but if this supremely laidback hour proves anything, it's that he could try harder.

Still, there is something wonderfully refreshing about Che's drawling, scattergun approach on a Fringe crammed with intricately plotted hours, radio-scripts-in-waiting and manipulative conclusions. This is pure stand-up - a few good set-pieces, some crowd-work, lots of laughs.

Che's wit is sharpest on American politics and race. There is a brilliant counterintuitive argument for why Donald Trump should be President and why Obama has disappointed. Meanwhile he suggests white girls are the key to defeating IS - just look at the way they took over Brooklyn. “Yah Syria used to be sketchy but now it's pretty chill,” he says in a pitch-perfect Valley Girl voice.

Not all of his audience work is successful, but he was unsettled by an especially odd heckler on this day. When he is given the warning to wrap up, he looks shocked. “Five minutes? Holy shit, I just got started...” I could have watched him for far longer - but I would love to see him when he really gets going.

To 20 August (0131 558 7272; www.thestand.co.uk)