“Smart, sharp and thoughtful – Novellie makes life’s chaos hilariously relatable.”
4 * * * *
Pierre Novellie has been a fringe regular for 10 years now, and this show is another wonderful hour of the self-aware pedantry and creative problem-solving he has mastered so well. Novellie kicks off with a familiar observational tirade about the growing pains and pleasures of careening towards middle age -It would seem that it is not in fact having children that makes you a ‘dad’ but several other, many-layered characteristics that awaken, like a biological time bomb, within the body of a 34-year-old father of none.
This fantastic start moves seamlessly into an equal-parts hectic and heartfelt story about man and meat, as well as the lengths Novellie will go for his fiancée (And fridge contents). His many-layered tale acts as a hilarious reminder that transitioning through life stages isn’t always glamorous. It’s messy and sweaty and sometimes not at all what you ordered.
You can’t help but root for the Franco-named, South-African-born, Manx-raised protagonist as he attempts to best an unrelenting world with signature off-beat logic. Smart, sharp and thoughtful – Novelle makes life’s chaos hilariously relatable.
Novellie has a presence that only experienced comics possess, commanding the pace of the story with hilarious moments of blustering incredulity, punctuated with the calming resolve of someone who thinks he has a plan for anything. He possesses the uncanny skill of answering questions before you’ve asked them, and the sense of ‘I know what you’re thinking…’ never misses the mark due to his talented storytelling. Confident, well-curated punchlines landed well with a sold-out crowd, no small feat for the last few days of July.
The payoff lends itself to a metaphor about the state of the world – a well-trodden theme of many a fringe show in 2025, I expect at this early stage of not-quite-August-yet. Novellie approaches the subject of hope with a sort of fresh realism, that the country and world are falling apart, but perhaps all is not ‘lost’.
I wish Novellie yet another brilliant fringe- he’s nothing if not consistently good. A safe bet for parents and visiting family.
Pierre Novellie: You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here at Monkey Barrel 3
19:05 | 1st-24th August
Pierre Novellie: You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here ****
Published on
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 
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