Review: Adam Flood at The Room Above

Review: Adam Flood at The Room Above

Posted on: 06 Jun 2023

Energetic, easy-going comedy armed with all the silliness of a pitch pedal.

In preparation for reviewing Adam Flood's preview of his Fringe show (Adam Flood: Remoulded), I watched some of the (hard-to-find) online clips of Adam Flood performing in the past. Avoiding the meat of the clips so as not to spoil the surprise, I briefly checked in at the start of the act, and found myself slightly unimpressed with his opening gambits.

Thus, I was surprised to find the very same jokes that left me cold now leaving me chuckling in anticipation for the rest of the act – Adam Flood is clearly a fast learner, and his act has clearly come on leaps and bounds in the less-than-a-year between the clip I watched and now.

Appropriately, the word of the day here is reinvention, as Flood leads us through a quick history of his own life, seemingly punctuated by constant reinvention of the self – starting with some genuinely shocking descriptions of his childhood in Stoke-On-Trent. Children using and dealing drugs, organising fights and so on – it would all be a bit too harrowing for a comedy show if not for Flood’s affable demeanour and careful balancing of horror and comedy.

The other element of Flood’s act that helped balance the tone was also his biggest gimmick: a £300 pitch-modulator pedal. It ramped up the silliness of the act, and added a nice spalsh of variety to the act as Flood burst into the occasional song – informed by one of his reinvented personalities, of course.

This was an Edinburgh preview show, so not everything was as slick as it could be. The set ended up mistimed, jokes had to be skipped, and Flood was regularly scanning his notes for help. However, whilst such WIP roadbumps are par for the course, Flood’s reaction to them wasn’t. He rolled with the punches with aplomb, weaving through his own set, joking on his feet, and maintaining in unruffled good humour throughout.

In the same improvisational spirit, Flood excelled in his crowd work, gently dropping duds and capitalising on the characters and coincidences that fuel crowd interaction – within minutes of the beginning of the act, Flood had the audience feeling like a tight-knit, intimate club, and fostered an anything-could-happen atmosphere.

The show ends with a song that sums up Flood’s life, act and reinventions in a somewhat emotionally earnest way. In addition to the pitch pedal, it’s hard not to draw comparisons to American comic Bo Burnham, and his special Inside. Such comparisons, past a surface level, are perhaps a little inaccurate, but he could learn from Burnham – the ending is a little too pared-back for my taste. Flood has the makings of not just a very funny show here, but a poignant one too. With a little more time spent on the conclusion, and a little more emotional honesty, he could find himself with a powerful payoff.

As always, The Room Above is a special venue, and the right place to go if you’re looking for alternative and fringe comedy in Bristol – Adam Flood’s show is no different. If you find yourself in Edinburgh this August, you’d be doing yourself a favour if you caught this up-and-coming comic. You can check out the rest of the Room Above's programme here, and keep up with Adam Flood here.

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Patrick Bate

Patrick is a filmmaker with so much Bristol in his blood the white blood cells are graffiti'd. Educated at the Northern Film School in Leeds, he’s returned home to be a Videographer and Reviewer for 365Bristol and BARBI. When he’s not messing about with cameras, he enjoys playing guitar, spending far too much time on tabletop RPGs, and being an awful snob about cider. Have a look at his work here, or get in touch at patrickb@365bristol.com.