When she’s off the comedy stage, Alice Fraser is a politics and news podcaster, which she jokes puts her in a small demographic of women that can speak to men without interruption. Her show pulls from topical issues like AI, the manosphere, capitalism, technology, gender and sexuality. Fraser pulls these themes together succinctly, conveying her worldview with persuasive intellect, but it all feels a little too ambitious to contain within a one-hour Fringe comedy set.
Fraser’s stand-up show centres around training a little AI vacuum cleaner how to be a man, with PowerPoint slides and crowd work used cleverly along the way. Fraser discusses how masculinity presents itself, moving through themes of today while exposing men in her life like gym-bro Jaden.
Fraser intermittently uploads data to ‘Elon Dust’, who then understands masculinity as something entirely ballistic, with a robotic voice coming from sound tech exclaiming ‘a man is a rocket shaped penis flying towards the moon, which is a huge vagina’. And this, with its occasional technical difficulties and a little too long pauses, is where the show loses momentum, alongside Fraser’s ‘ad breaks’.
Fraser introduces that an audience member can buy the premium experience of the show for just 100 GBP, up-front cash, and not if, but when nobody offers payment, the show will proceed with ‘ad breaks’ every seven and a half minutes. This section of the show was a funny idea in theory, but in practice, it feels a little awkward. While the ads are amusing, they halt momentum of the show and take away from the genuinely funny moments of Fraser’s naturally charismatic high-energy delivery that took the stage in between.
Outside of this, Fraser kept the laughs going throughout, she has good delivery and a charming wit to her punch lines. The deeper message to the show shines through, ending on an optimistic note that although we’re surrounded by these examples of toxic masculinity, it’s important to recognise the good men in the world who remind us that it’s #notallmen.
Oh Man! runs until 30th August 26 and tickets can be found at https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/alice-fraser-oh-man
Reviewer: Ella Beckley
Reviewed: 7th August 2026
North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating:
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