Tom Craine: Comfort Blanket *** (& a 1/2)

Tom Craine probably engenders a wee bit of jealousy from more grizzled stand-ups as despite only hitting the circuit a few years ago he's already had a pilot commissioned by Radio 2 - The Sharp End - and worked across several Beeb digital channels.
This is the young comic's first Edinburgh show and while clearly nervous and sweating profusely he's adopted an interesting technique to avoid any awkward silences: talking at several million words a minute and never, ever stopping. Not even for laughs.

There's a decent sprinkling of the latter here but also some (fast) food for thought as Craine races through the various facets of his theme: the metaphorical comfort blankets we all use to get through life. Indeed, the spindly comic seems to be using his microphone as one early on, cradling it to his body in such an awkward manner that for the first ten minutes you assume he must have a withered arm.
When he then swaps hands and starts gesticulating wildly it's like witnessing a miracle, which isn't something you can say for every show.

Overall it's a solid, enjoyable debut, if slightly exhausting for all concerned. Late the next evening we bump into the likeable Craine wandering the streets, and pop the big question: how will he keep that frenetic pace going for a whole month? "I'm probably going to explode," concedes the comic.