Roger Prick is the brainchild of Han Whyte, Leicester Square Sketch Off! 2025 finalist, and has gone from sketch to full solo show – Roger Prick: Sexopolis.
The eponymous Roger is an erotic novelist and businessman, and we join him on his book tour, where he is promoting both his freshly-modernised works and his newest release.
Bedecked in sideburns and an oversized 1970s suit, he regales us with his life story, from his birth in Gloucester to the founding of his own literary emporium and sex shop, and its subsequent sprawl into Soho sleaze capital Sexopolis. He is relentlessly smutty and unshakeably confident in a way that manages to be endearing because of it being a drag king act, with the vivid narrative adding depth and tangibility to Whyte’s assured stage presence.
Roger’s one-liners and jokes come so thick and fast – with no innuendo left unacknowledged – that it was hard to get it all down (‘keep your mind sharp and your nipples sharper’ and ‘my erotic horror, ‘Do The Blood-Stained Carpets Match the Blood-Stained Drapes?’ being two of my favourites). This is a show where as much effort has gone into the script as the character, and it feels all the richer for it.
Roger is aided in his story by the extensive use of fun props, from his often lewd drawings to puppets, and the audience are involved multiple times to their delight. We follow his journey through business ownership and forbidden romance with a rival feminist (!) business owner Griselda to the modern day. This transition is framed as relatively effortless, and it would be fun to have had an insight into how age has affected his sexual exploits and work, as well as hearing more about his experience in modern publishing; a redacted extract from his editor is great fun. But it’s vivid, slimy silliness in the best way, and Whyte anchors it with certainty.
Roger Prick: Sexopolis is running at the Edinburgh Fringe until the 30th August (no shows 18th and 25th), at Jelly Belly at Underbelly, Cowgate, (6.55pm)