Softie

It’s cool to be soft! I needed this reminder rn.

The show was great! Really unique, great warming up of the crowd, just overall a thoughtful, relatable, funny time. It was exactly what I wanted from a last-minute final show of this year’s festival 🥲

Such a charming show and man!!!

This was a fabulous reminder of connection and a masterclass on humanity. I couldn’t stop laughing, yet I left the show with a teary eye and a huge smile. The intention for the show was so well executed. This is a show for adults who need to be reminded about their inner child, and how much fun life could be — if we all become a little softer <3

This was the best show I saw at Fringe. I wasnt expecting any of it. I dont want to ruin it. It was a very unique brand of comedy that was raw, well thought out and just fucking funny. I would have easily paid way more to see a show like this again. Go see it before its gone!

Honestly a great bit of humor from a gentle person. Tim is a sweetheart and he just wants to connect with the audience in a fun meaningful way. I was honoured to take part in the show by being wined and dined by Tim and an interesting choice of menu. Will always play spin the bottle with this guy.

Interest exploration of intimacy through clown and comedy. I liked this a lot. It was uncomfortable and strange but thought provoking. Shoutout for the Mitski feature and emphasis on consent. I’d play spin the bottle with Tim Felton any day!

This show was peak fringe. I went in not really knowing what to expect other than the show’s description piqued my interest and it was billed as a clown show. I left barely understanding or being able to describe most of what I saw, but do know I left entertained. Today’s show started with audience participation by a strange gent - his dad just died and his aunt sent him a WILD text calling out his behaviour. Hard to tell if it was a plant or just another strange fringe moment but Tim rolled with it leaning into his Softie persona. There’s physical comedy, stand up, video elements, balloon art, crowd work, lots of consent. Definitely not a show for everyone as evidenced by the grandmother and grandson who walked out after the first 20 minutes. But if you’re in for a slightly raunchy, yet endearing, funny show get your ticket for this ride.

I truly laughed so hard that tears formed in my eyes. I don't even know where to begin to explain the show. It's intimate, awkward, and all around good fun. The penis joke is very inspired.

"Softie", created and performed by Timothy Felton, is a hard to describe show. Part stand-up comedy, part clown, part group therapy. Completely enjoyable.

Softie begins with extended audience participation, with one recurring bit that almost overstays its welcome but ends just in time. From there, it goes into a standard stand-up comedy set, with random oddities interspersed throughout. At one part, while doing a normal stand-up set, he slowly pulls a full bandana out of his hat without addressing it. That tells you a lot about what kind of show this is. It is, mostly, stand-up comedy with some charming/strange moments which differentiate it from a standard comedic show.

Audience participation in comedy shows is a very hit or miss field, and for the most part, this show hits with them. A very large portion of this show is audience participation, sometimes with one individual and sometimes in collaboration with the entire audience. Felton is well versed in awkward-style comedy and he plays off the audience well, leading to some big laughs and instantly getting the crowd on his side. His "Softie" persona is built around consent and creating meaningful relationships, which plays much funnier than it sounds, and lends itself well to a show with so much audience participation. Without giving away too much, there's a truly touching moment towards the end where Felton speaks about the meaning behind the show, and you can see that meaning throughout, even in the bizarre parts.

As for his traditional stand-up material, there are some big laughs in there too, especially as it is not a typical stand-up show. He is unabashedly honest, and adds some physical gags which hit well. Though, while his audience participation led to many genuine laughs, there was much more shocked laughter in his stand-up section, as he occasionally seemed to go for crude surprises. This is all a matter of preference, as most comedy is, though some of his stand-up seemed inconsistent with his "Softie" persona and felt out of place within this particular show.

That all being said, there was a lot to enjoy with Softie. Well done crowd work, a backpack full of surprises, and even a genuinely playful game of spin the bottle (not the way you're thinking of it) where myself and a friend were able to come onto stage and play the game. In the current landscape of stand-up, Softie is a refreshing and very welcome change of pace.

SOFTIE AT THE FACULTY EVENTS LOUNGE. FOUR MORE PERFORMANCES.

Andrea Noga, Alberta Youth Theatre Collective.

This show has a lot of great awkward humor! There’s a fair bit of audience participation, which can be very hit or miss, but I think it was pretty decent here. It was unfortunate that some bits dragged on too long; there’s a point where you’ve gone past awkward/uncomfortable comedy into something that’s veering into an almost boring slowness. That being said, when the humor hit it HIT and I laughed a lot!

My main criticism of this play is that it went 10 minutes over time, causing me to miss my next show that day. I know this because there was a clock on stage. When so much of the show is improv’d audience participation, you need to be very careful to watch the time and cut bits short to respect the runtime you communicated to the festival.

I absolutely loved Softie! I walked in not knowing what to expect and as soon as he came out and started the show I was all in. I couldn’t stop laughing. I don’t want to give anything away; I just want to say: Go catch this show before it’s too late. I recommended it to a couple of friends and they loved it so much they even suggested going again, which we will be doing.

Let's be blunt: this show is weird. It is chaotic. It is avant-garde. Tim stretches bits just enough to make you wonder if he knows what he is doing, if he has a plan. He does.

To me, this is the exact kind of thing I want in a Fringe show. It is neurotic and poignant. It is a roller coaster. It definitely would not be a serious or prudish person's cup of tea. But I am neither of those things, so it was a refreshing sweet tea spiked with balloons.

The tension was incredible. Hilarious build up. Explosions of laughter. Such great comedy timing and physical humor.

Funny, affable, silly, with a dick joke that is elevated to art.

This is such a sweet, gentle, funny little show. It has a lovely message about human connection. I giggled all the way through!

Absolutely mischievous pacing. A performance that's delightful to watch and expertly embodied. Light and sound are also used to great effect. I won't forget the way I connected with this absurd adorable comedy.