We finally completed the big Seinfeld watch earlier this year, so thought it was time to actually show Alasdair some of the stand-up. This wasn’t the special I’d have picked to start, but it was the special that was available on Netflix. A bit too heavy on the non-standup stuff (although the shot of the street filled with his legal pad notes was quite something, and you’ve got to admire the man’s work ethic), and obviously the premise of the show was the pre-Seinfeld jokes that got him to that point, so nothing groundbreaking. He’s more absurdist than he gets credit for, the observations for which he’s famous often being springboards into their own little worlds.
Not for me! And that’s ok, boring if everything is. It’s a real shame, though. Fleming has a great voice and there are some great premises and punchlines and turns of phrase throughout the show. Unfortunately, almost all of them are punctuated by Penguin Of Doom level lolrandom physical comedy and/or the American “louder is funnier” curse. Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me catching strays isn’t helping either.
Rediscovered as part of the great “moving box full of stand-up DVDs” trawl. Baby Nish! Oh he’s so young here. This would have been the first show I’d have seen him do, all the way back at ARG in 2014, and there’s still lots of it I can quote in detail. I’d say it still holds up, but it lacks the furious momentum of the comic into which he’s developed - although it’s a lot of fun to watch him forget the set barely five minutes in. A lot of thoughtful material about the nature of comedy and the way that ties into a sense of self.
As part of moving all of my old crap out from my parents’ house, I’ve now got a box full of old stand-up DVDs for archival purposes. We crate dug for something to watch this evening, and O’Briain’s first DVD was the one. The 2006 British comedy DVD aesthetic is strong with this one (as is the number to text on the back of the DVD case to receive downloadable ringtones). This show is pretty much tattooed on my brain, and it’s fun to see it still hold up. The crowdwork is masterful, it’s incredible.
Lachy is one of my favourite recent acts, and getting to see Voices Of Evil at the Fringe a few years ago was an absolute highlight that year. I’m so glad he was able to capture this - on halloween no less! - for posterity. It works well enough on film, perhaps losing slightly some of the effect of the ventriloquism when it’s not literally in your face, but Lachy is absolutely throwing himself into it and it pays dividends with a very enthusiastic audience.
Having recently watched Fantasmas and clocking that Julio Torres’ new special is out soon, it was high time I a) rewatched My Favorite Shapes and b) showed it to Alasdair, and I have never seen anyone so immediately become besotted. This is the kind of stand-up that simultaneously makes me weep with inferiority and kicks my arse back into gear. Such a confident voice in presenting weird ideas in normal ways and normal ideas in weird ways. Nothing feels forced or out of place. I would be intrigued to see what this is like in person without the pre-taped sketches based on a few of the ideas - but then we’d miss out on Ryan Gosling playing “middle penguin”, so swings and roundabouts.
Completing the set before we’re off to see him in person later in the year, so as to get Alasdair up to date on what’s been before. I think I still stand by Kid Gorgeous being his peak, but post-rehab Mulaney is still a whirlwind of ideas and phrasing that cannot be beaten. He marries the seriousness of the material with the lighthearted affability well, and the construction of the routines is bulletproof as ever.
A real treat, this. Acaster is pretty much the GOAT at this point, and getting to see Hecklers Welcome in three different forms, to best view the range of potential experiences of a show designed to withstand audience distraction, is as informative as it is entertaining. The first form, from Truro, is almost entirely uninterrupted, which means what is maybe my favourite ending of one of James’ shows is captured properly for posterity, and demonstrates just how strongly this material holds up. The second, Dublin, is a show going off the rails in the best way, an audience acting as a singular body and matching his energy exactly. Finally, offcuts of the proper special from Northampton, showing that if he ever wanted to, he’d be one of the best MCs going. A fantastic document of an important show that I can already tell will be, in some way, overlooked in the canon in years to come.
Continuing the Mulaney spree and breaking up Twin Peaks: The Return a bit with some levity. The Comeback Kid reflects how much of a leap Mulaney made between this and Kid Gorgeous. He’s not quite unstoppable here, but my god he is good. Quack quack.
Alasdair has been getting into the Ellis and John archive, and was keen to watch this. I’d never seen the finished thing, filmed or live, but I saw a quite late preview at ARG at the time (on the same weekend as Sara Pascoe’s own “other side of the story” show), so was curious to see how it held up. I’m not as fully enamoured of it as I maybe was at the time - a tad too much shouting in lieu of punchline, a touch of whininess - but it’s a strong example of the “raw” genre. I remember doing an amount of “spelling bee”-ing it at the time, and couldn’t resist doing the same here. But that’s just me.
Almost the platonic ideal of an American stand-up special. Mulaney is relentless out of the gate, and even having seen it enough in the past that plenty of the phrasing and tone have entered my subconscious lexicon, I’m still gasping for breath at times. So incredibly self-assured without being cocky. This is the peril of the American comedian rather than Mulaney himself, but the just ending on a random joke because you’ve hit the hour mark will never not baffle me. Have some structure!
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