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ssp at Edinburgh, Phil Nichol
Hiro Worship
- The Stand
- Edinburgh, 19 August 2007
Frenzied veteran delivers
Pausing to prop himself up on the mic stand, Phil Nichol looks exhausted with his deeply set eyes and a manically dishevelled crop of bituminous hair. ‘Do you ever just stop and realise what you actually do for a living?’, he asks tonight’s punters, allowing himself their sympathies to take all he can from a moment’s rest. He was rewarded for his stamina at the Edinburgh circuit – a stretch now in its 17th year – by claiming last year’s if.comeddie award, and this year’s lap sees him direct one show and star in another for his troupe, The Comedians Theatre Company.
Success can have it own snags, mind. How will he follow up last year’s success, for example? And what will he do with about any pesky devotees he might have earned himself over the course of the years?
The initial fondness for the fan from Sapporo transforms into an increasing weariness, as Scottish-born Canadian’s storytelling is frenetic, schizophrenically switching between the various characters who make up his story with breakneck rapidity. His Hiro’s diminutive stature is overcompensated by the size of his demands from their friendship, while Nichol’s housemates and girlfriend grow irritated and suspicious of the newcomer to their circle. When Hiro threatens to grate on the audience as well, Nichol has an aside ready, such as that of his brief affair with the German Nicole which features a standout Norwegian trip-hop interlude and had me cackling with glee. He opens strongly too, with an inspired and surreal impression of Billie Holiday.
Nichol’s abrasive, hyperbolic style might not suit everyone’s tastes; others have grumbled for his (perhaps inevitable) failure to reach the intensities of last year’s ‘The Naked Racist’. You also might be terrified into laughing if sat in the front row or disappointed maybe that his tale of obsession, national stereotyping and preconception usually aims for immediate gag response rather than elemental truths. At the moment though, Nichol’s creative energies are ablaze and he shows no signs of burning out just yet, ending the show on a triumphant high. See it.
Julien Hunt
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