With the pithy title An Introvert’s Guide to Extraverts, I had high hopes for this one-man show from ex-researcher turned comedian, Luke Morris. The audience seemed genuinely interested in what Morris had to say, and it was a pretty decent turnout for a Sunday night, midway through Fringe.

The premise of the show is that Morris, assuming the role of Matt Boring, is a hapless lecturer who is a late fill-in for an alpha male, extravert colleague referred to throughout as Dr. Lachmann, who is currently chasing monkeys around the campus. Boring has been forced to use Lachmann’s PowerPoint, which derides and demeans at least 40% of the population that identifies as introverts.

This is not a bad comedy premise – aside from the monkeys, which were unnecessary and led to some tired jokes about barrels of monkeys and monkeys’ business. Morris’s content was interesting, and if it had simply been a lecture from his alter ego, Matt Boring, I feel it would have been a stronger show.

Instead, Morris introduces himself first and tells the audience he suffers from hyperhidrosis (he’s a sweater), and his mother wants it known that the woman referred to as his mother in the show is nothing like her. This breaking down of the fourth wall before the show even starts lessens the belief in the character, which Morris brings to life by adding a coat, tie, and glasses.

If he had started his lecture as Matt Boring and revealed his world in character (including the excessive sweats), I think it would have been a stronger piece. There is definitely a show in this show, but it needed a good script edit and some direction. The tension between the absent but overbearing and showy Lachmann as the antagonist and the increasingly frustrated and overlooked Boring could have mined a rich comedy vein. But Morris needs to trust himself more to inhabit the character from the get-go. Ditch the monkeys and trust in the science.