Alex Prescot: Cosy Musical Mischief and Warmth at the Fringe

★★★★★

Alex Prescot has already proved himself a Fringe favourite as part of Gigglemug’s Jaffa Cake Musical, a show that continues to delight audiences this year with its sharp comedy, infectious energy, and the eternal question of whether it is a cake or a biscuit. With Cosy, Prescot steps out on his own and shows he is just as magnetic solo, turning a simple premise into a night of musical mischief and warmth.

He glides through the crowd with an open smile, talks to us about life and love, and spins our answers into songs on the spot. Audience participation can make people shrink into their seats. Here it feels safe, generous and genuinely fun. A highlight came when a child told us a friend had “stolen his ambition,” which sparked a gleefully savage little number about how terrible that friend is. It landed because the joke felt collective, not pointed.

The set up is disarmingly simple. Prescot invites us to get, as promised, Cosy, and before long the room is dotted with cushions and laughter. One by one he coaxes stories and tiny confessions, then folds them into melodies that feel fresh yet satisfyingly complete. The craft is there in the rhyme that sneaks up, the hook that returns at just the right time, and the way he remembers names and details for cheeky callbacks later. There is warmth and ridicule, but they are balanced so cleverly that the joke is always shared, never embarrassing.

Threaded through the evening are two running gags that Prescot milks with ease. First, that he was never meant to be doing this alone, with his missing partner becoming a character in itself. Second, that he is a massive mummy’s boy with a past at Musical Theatre Summer School (MTSS). Both give him comic ammunition, letting him weave personal confessions into improvised songs with self deprecating bite. Rather than feeling indulgent, they become touchstones the crowd looks forward to, markers of his comic timing and charm.

With just him, a piano, a PowerPoint flourish and a hands free microphone that added its own awkward charm, the pacing stays nimble and the focus stays on the alchemy between performer and room. The Britishness of the humour helps too. Self effacing, gently cheeky, never cruel.

Cosy is proof that warmth and ridicule can sit side by side, and in Prescot’s hands both are irresistible.