Jin Hao Li - Swimming in a Submarine

I FINALLY saw Jin Hao Li's debut hour at the Soho Theatre after countless recommendations from friends and several failed attempts to get a last-minute ticket in Edinburgh, and I was not disappointed.

The show follows the stories of Li's three recurring nightmares and three daydreams. You may think hearing about someone else's dream is your own nightmare, but Jin Hao's soft and intriguing delivery of the bizarre draws the audience into the palm of his hand for the entire hour.

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Li's somewhat philosophical delivery of bizarre anecdotes sprinkled with hilarious one-liners is utterly unique in itself. That's before he empathises with the single angler fish, passionately raps about apples, or details a spider and a ladybird awkwardly flirting over a mutual love of architecture.

He punctuates the delicate atmosphere with exquisite moments of awkward audience interaction and dances between the commonplace and the outlandish with ease, as his accounts of his real life experiences of racism and hypothetical concerns about losing his pinky fingers to the Yakuza both have the audience in stitches.

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After seeing it for myself, I am not surprised Swimming In A Submarine bagged a nomination for Best Newcomer at the Comedy Awards 2024 and sold out its Edinburgh and Soho theatre runs.

This is a joyful victory of a show and I can't wait to see Jin Hao Li go from strength to strength with whatever comes next.