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Russell Kane
with Tom Wrigglesworth, Liz Stephens, Dan Hoy
- Fat Tuesday at the Salmon & Compass, Angel, London
- 13 February 2007
Bi-polar bears, sex toys and roast quails: Kane comes out on top in a mixed bag
Stalking around the small room, arms flapping like a demented chicken, Russell Kane puts on his best inbred aristocrat face and starts yelling: "Let me shit on you Monty, let me shit on you," before daring people to lob roast quails at him. Kane is deep into a rant about the middle classes of Islington, coming on like some bastard offspring of Arthur Askey and Russell Brand. The audience, largely middle class Islingtonians, are lapping it up. By this point, he could have belted out a number from an interminable Ben Elton musical and still get a laugh.
Riffing on familiar 'meedja-whore' themes, Kane highlights the absurdity
of comedy; a world which lauds it stars before cutting them down to size
in a way that would make The Sun editors wince. Clearly on the up for now,
Kane is worth keeping an eye on.
There was a surfeit of self-obsession from deprecatory Yorkshireman Tom
Wrigglesworth, who (annoyingly) stopped for a slurp of beer every time he
got some momentum going. Things only perked up when he started bantering
with a magnificently moustachioed member of the audience.
On came Liz "I'm a woman comedian and oh isn't it difficult" Stephens.
You know it's going to be bad when her first comment is on her relationship.
Then it's sex toys, the trouble with being a woman…yawn. Been there, done
that, got the sodding T-shirt.
Dan Hoy's non-stop pun-a-thon was short, sharp and funny. With bi-polar
bears, Gengis Khan and 'mental' arithmetic, this was a one-trick pony of
an act, but polished enough to work. And, crucially, Hoye didn't outstay
his welcome.
Aaron Davies
