Monday August 18th 2025
Bryan Safi
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Emmy-winning actor and comedian, Bryan Safi, has brought his brand new stand-up show to this year’s Fringe, showcasing a manic and hilarious hour-long stand-up performance that dives into queerness and confidence whilst perfectly highlighting Safi’s unapologetic nature.
Starring in ABC’s 9-1-1, Netflix’s You and Attidudes!, the comedian brought all his talent to the festival with his new show, ‘Are You Mad At Me??’, allowing him to showcase his versatile on stage skills from comedy to singing, alongside his incredible crowd work.
Using his acting abilities to accentuate his stand-up, Safi could switch from vulnerable to hilarious in seconds, taking the Underbelly Friesian audience on a wild adventure. Allowing his comedy to tell a story, Safi brought the audience through powerful topics, such as his experience coming out to his mother and her homophobic nature, his failed dating experience, and his issues with being too much at times, alongside some hilarious topics like his “straight bro” dress sense.
The comedian will occasionally burst into song, allowing entertaining breaks from just the stand-up. Singing covers related to topics he discussed, it added more context to his jokes and allowed Safi to showcase his surprisingly good singing abilities.
His show spiralled, getting more silly and hysterical as the hour went on, switching from topics like his experience being gay to stories of self-doubt surrounding his people pleasing nature and being a ‘bit much’. His comedy, despite being wacky, told serious stories with important messages hiding behind his goofy nature. Allowing the audience to both laugh but also learn about Safi’s personality and his self-doubt issues, this was highlighted in a segment of the show that surrounds by body dysmorphia.
Naming his show ‘Are You Mad At Me??’, the American comedian showcased his art of being unapolegtiaclly too much. With the performance being a lot to take in but in a good way, Safi would jump from topic to topic.
A highlight of the show was his jokes surrounding how different performers enter the stage. Using great lighting and music to create a hilarious joke where he would emerge from behind the stage acting out as different ‘types’ of performers. This followed a story where Safi disscussed issues with his walk, telling a hilarious joke about how his mother used to tell him off for the way he walked.
Alongside this, Safi would show graphics and videos on a screen behind him. Using titles on a presentation to introduce new jokes. This was used when he discussed his flaws, previewing words on the screen that he then went on to discuss.
Safi’s crowd work was one of his strongest attributes. Making the audience an essential part of his show, he would make jokes at audience members, encourage them to sing along to his songs and sing into their faces. A unique joke that he performed was that after a punchline he would simply put the mic in someone’s face and stare at them, expecting them to comment on his comedy. These jokes, despite being cruel to people in the audience who aren’t a fan of crowd participation, were very creative and made the punchline much more funny.
Using his comedy to tell stories, he gave the audience big laughs and big feelings through his self-deprecating jokes. Taking them through a journey that both told a story but welcomed humour, exploring hard-hitting subjects with soft hilarious comedy.
Finishing his show with another song he wrote himself, Safi rounded off his performance just as funny as he began it with no dull moments throughout the entire show. He got more funny as the performance went on, showcasing the rare skill of not losing audience attention even once.
Bryan Safi’s new show, ‘Are You Mad At Me??’, brings a unique stand-up hour to this year’s festival. Through his solo show, the actor and comedian previews his incredible stage talents alongside hilarious and unique humour that is silly yet explores serious topic matter.
£12.00 full price. Performing everyday from 5:20pm at Underbelly Bristo Square – Friesian
5/5, must-see, hilariously creative performance.
