WIL HODGSON - Straight Out of Chippenham
He may be a walking conundrum - the ex-wrestler and punk rock enthusiast who collects My Little Ponies - but pink-haired Wil Hodgson also needs to engage with his audience much more if his stand-up routine about small-town racists and chubby-chasing is to really work for a festival audience. His material - especially his attacks on white power band Skrewdriver and the total lack of sex appeal in the emaciated, sillicone-enhanced women held up as sex symbols by lads' magazines - are engaging, effective and entertaining, but his distance made the whole exercise feel like Hodgson was going through the motions rather than actually having a good time, which translated into me not having a good time either.
Three occasional guffaws out of five.
GLENN WOOL - Promises, Promises
This Canadian stand-up performer's show got off to a great start, with a very funny moustache montage; and his material about snorting cocaine and mocking Alcoholics Anonymous was sharp, crude and good fun. But when he started making borderline gay jokes, bitching about his ex-wife, and finally telling a routine about being born with a vagina and kicking himself in the cunt, I lost all interest. Misogyny is not, and never has been funny.
Two and a half early laughs that faded to a stony-faced silence.
1 comment:
I went to a selection of short comedy plays last night and half included jokes around the sentiment “I’m not a fag, but...” Some were more effective than others, including highlighting the hypocrisy that a detail like gender can turn a situation on its head/change a reaction to such an extent.
The best comedies tapdance or smash through the taboo and so much comedy does deal with sex. When it’s done well it’s brilliant, but so often I end up walking out of comedies trying to work out the intent of the punchlines.
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