Bill Hicks and George Carlin died, Denis Leary became a TV fireman and even Michael Moore has been quiet of late.

Over on these shores we sorely need another American ranting at us about the decaying state of his nation and, on paper, Eddie Pepitone could be that man. He calls himself "a truth-teller" and there's no arguing that there's searing truth in what he says about American prisons and unemployment, even when there's not always a joke behind the shouting. His description of his countrymen ordering in food before settling down in front of the TV to watch the "spectacle" of an overseas invasion has a snarling bite, and his rewrite of Death Of A Salesman with Willy Loman advertising washing detergent is the best short routine I've seen at the Fringe this year so far. When his black humour hammers home the poltical points, he's a man on fire.