Muristek
Cambridge Corn Exchange From his parody Sue Gray report to his Twitter spat with Alan Sugar, the new stage show by the loveably impudent joker collects and comments on his most successful comic stunts
As the Sue Gray report – or the long wait for it – again dominates the headlines, whither the comedian who leaked his own version of it, four months ago? That stunt, which caused “mass panic” in the corridors of power, is one of several revisited in a touring show by the nation’s favourite prankster, Joe Lycett. Inviting the Lord Mayor of Birmingham to open his new kitchen extension, trolling the low-rent brands who ask him to endorse their products online, Twitter spats with Alan Sugar … all are reprised with slides and footage on an upstage screen and in-person commentary from the joker himself.
It’s not a brand of live comedy that puts the emphasis on liveness. Much of the funniness is located in the past; we’re just hearing about it (and watching it on a screen) after the event. And the show never really builds up a head of steam. It’s constructed around a stunt – a campaign, even – that Lycett has been working on for years, the details of which we’re asked not to reveal. It makes for a heartwarming tale, rooted in Brummie Lycett’s civic pride, and his outrage when protests were mounted locally against LGBT teaching in schools. But it’s not, comically speaking, his biggest-hitting stunt. It lacks an authority figure for Lycett to needle and wind up, and the cloak-and-dagger business it involves feels superfluous.
Continue reading...