IT HAS NOT been a vintage year for stand-up at Edinburgh. There are some terrific shows, of course, some of which have made the Perrier shortlist. But there have been precious few unadulterated hour-long sets of no-messing comedy that set the city on fire. True, Stewart Lee offers an uncompromising masterclass in the form, but he is not eligible for the award, given as it is to “up-and-coming” talent.
Elsewhere, only Michael McIntyre stands out from the acts delivering pure stand-up. When his material matches his improvisation — or when he drops it altogether, Ross Noble-style — then he might be a major star.
Of the shortlisted acts, everyone has some element that takes them away from the usual. Chris Addison uses the pretext of a lecture on civilisation; Sarah Kendall has spoof advertisments; Epitaph is a comedy play; Jackson’s Way is an involved character piece. Only Reginald D. Hunter just stands up and tells his story — but his brilliant show is finessed in fine detail with his director, John Gordillo.
Nothing wrong with that — it is just a reminder that Daniel Kitson’s win two years ago was the exception to the rule. Apart from Kitson, over the past five we have had two character acts (Al Murray, Rich Hall as Otis Lee Crenshaw), a horror spoof (Garth Marenghi) and last year’s fiendishly clever oddity from Demetri Martin. The reason is simple — an hour is a long, long time just to stand up and do your stuff. Unless you have Kitson-like genius, it takes years to build up the ability to play a room unaided. And Kitson is fuelled by a bloody-minded outsider mentality that I have not seen in any of this year’s eligible comics.
Hence, I think, the inclusion of Epitaph and Jackson’s Way. The former is theatre as much as it is comedy. The latter was developed at Battersea Arts Centre, arguably London’s most important venue for young writers and performers. But both are brilliantly funny, so who’s complaining? Edinburgh is expensive. Acts feel that they need a focus for an hour’s worth of material. The hour-long format favours shows with a beginning, middle and end.
Advertisement
I love stand-up comedy. A man or woman with a mike, who needs more? But, apart from Lee, all my favourite acts this year offered plenty more. Will Smith deserved a nomination for his show 10 Arguments I Should Have Won, a light but supremely skilful romp through his hang-ups, aided by heavy use of graphics, music and film. Alex Horne’s comedy seminar on body language had barely a moment unaccompanied by some well-chosen computer projection — but co-opted its technology seamlessly. And Noble and Silver — ineligible for the Perrier since they have already had a TV series — pre-recorded most of their show, yet still made it feel very much a live event.
Anyway, we have the shortlist, so who will win on Saturday? Hunter’s mixture of intelligence and the most assured delivery in the business may swing it. But I hope it will be Jackson’s Way. It is a genuine, surprising oddity.