Christopher Walker reviews one man show, It is I at the Soho Theatre
Stand-up comedy can sometimes be painful. Especially when the comic loses his audience.
This happened last week at the Soho Theatre, where outspoken Australian comedian Tom Ballard brought his one man show, flushed with success on the Edinburgh fringe.
An opening quip “it’s good to be back in broken Britain” delivered in his Aussie drawl, went down like a lead balloon.
Brits may make comments like this about ourselves, indeed some of us even write articles saying so, but somehow it sticks in the gullet when a visitor from another country does it.
Much of Tom’s act works well, and he is not afraid to make fun of himself.
Inevitably anti-capitalist in tone he is quick to ask us to buy his book or watch one of his videos “coz I need the money,” with a wink of the eye.
This extends to lampooning his own physique, or more particularly his bloated stomach – “I suffered a Covid pregnancy.”
And his haphazard sex life is a source for hilarious stories.
From the problems of picking up a witch, to the challenges of now dating a 25 year old acrobat.
A lot of the language is blue, and the details graphic, but then this is what you have come to expect on the fringe.
He is equally scathing about anyone unfortunate enough to sit in the front row. You have been warned.
A hapless punter called “Paul” who claimed to sell lingerie to the army, was endlessly picked on when he failed to laugh at Tom’s jokes.
His girlfriend apparently bought him his ticket as a surprise. Bad move.
But where the act went most seriously off the rails was when Tom picked on the late Queen, on the very anniversary of her death.
Mocking her as a “rich woman who did very little” was not an approach the audience liked.
Even those with republican sympathies.
“You’re a tough crowd” he bawled out. “Londoners are not like the Scots.”
You bet we aren’t. For some no holds barred comedy check out Soho Theatre’s comedy programme – https://sohotheatre.com/dean-street/
Photo credit: Ben King