Megasquirt: Fully Loaded review – how to combat existential angst? A comedy rave at an ungodly hour
This Guardian review covers Megasquirt: Fully Loaded, a late-night comedy show at Underbelly Cowgate during the Edinburgh festival, created and performed by Brooklyn duo Ashley Blair and Drew Reilly. The pair, both alumni of Chicago's Second City improv theatre, use hardcore hyperpop songs and sketches to satirise generation Z's sense of alienation and existential emptiness, framing the show as a mock celebration cum sendup rather than any genuine call to arms.
The performance features sketches on subjects including an awkward family dinner rendered through clinking cutlery and ASMR sounds, a spoof romance with a "centaur boyfriend", and the formation of a megachurch to fill a spiritual void, taking aim at Christian homophobia along the way. The reviewer praises the songs as tightly written and energetically delivered, though notes one sketch about straight female writers fetishising gay male sex loses focus and becomes overly crude. Overall the show is rated positively for its sharp, high-energy comedy. It runs at Underbelly, Cowgate, Edinburgh, until 30 August.
- Comedy duo Megasquirt satirise gen Z angst in late-night Edinburgh show
- Hyperpop songs tackle family dinners, megachurches and odd romances
- Mostly sharp and funny, bar one sketch that loses its edge
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Megasquirt: Fully Loaded is a late-night comedy show running as part of this year's Edinburgh festival at Underbelly Cowgate, one of the city's many fringe venues. It is written and performed by Ashley Blair and Drew Reilly, a two-person act from Brooklyn who both trained at Chicago's well-known Second City improv theatre.
The show blends original hyperpop-style songs with sketches, using humour to explore feelings of alienation and emptiness often associated with generation Z, the cohort broadly born from the mid-1990s to early 2010s. It presents itself as a knowing parody rather than a serious statement, tackling subjects such as family tension, unconventional relationships and the search for meaning through religion.
The Edinburgh festival fringe is the world's largest arts festival, drawing thousands of performers each August to stage new and experimental work, often to small late-night audiences before shows go on to wider recognition. Reviews like this one help audiences decide what to see among the festival's vast programme, with Megasquirt: Fully Loaded scheduled to run until 30 August.