Christian Dart wrote GUMSHOE! over a long weekend in 2025, taking it straight to Leicester Comedy Festival, where it was nominated for Best Show. He didn’t even have time to properly rehearse with his sister, Johanna, who happens to co-direct and handle the tech.
Clearly, he was onto a good thing. With only a few changes made, the pair took it to Europe’s biggest arts festival last August, where it sold out for the entire month, which is why he’s bringing it back to Edinburgh to lap up the remaining demand with his tongue for crime.
Dart leaves room for numerous improvisations, which he weaves into his hour based on (greatly encouraged) audience suggestions. That’s his inner clown at work, but in terms of the pre-rehearsed, he’s broadly influenced by his love of film, and attributes the show’s success to its silliness; as it doesn’t pretend to be important, although it’s important to go and see!
You can hear from him presently. Oh, yes indeed.
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Christian has since shared his Fringe excitement on social media, giving his followers a sneak peek at the larger venue he’s performing in this year. It’s an exciting phase in his career, and therefore a great opportunity to witness the pushing of envelopes... unless you’re keen to shadow a working postman.
If you’re in Edinburgh for the festival, you can peer through the slats of his film noir universe by grabbing tickets, and I’d do it sooner rather than later. He’ll also be hosting a cabaret and variety showcase with his award-winning trio, Bad Clowns.
Christian was a notably mild-mannered guest who came prepared with illuminating insights to answer every question. In that sense, I can draw parallels with another Christian interviewed for the blog, Christian Jegard, who I understand is up in Edinburgh for the first time as part of multiple lineups; click here and here.
“Hijacked by another Christian at the last minute…” said various men hoping to be Pope.
Ahem, Cushnie re-arranges his tie, and concludes by saying “Thank you for your time. Don’t forget to erm, give the post a like, if you can…” And trails off into confused mutterings that were impossible to transcribe.
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