Simon Amstell
Simon Amstell
Pleasance Dome @ 22:40, Aug 2-28 (not 8 or 15), (1hr), £9.00 (£7.00), £10.00 (£8.50)
****
The thing about Popworld, and I know a lot of folks liked it (so please don’t be cross), is that it had this really cruel, snide edge to it. Tuning in of a Sunday morning was tantamount to turning up to a school disco wearing the wrong sort of trainers: Oliver and Amstell seemed like the hip kids who’d eye-ball you up and down and make a cutting comment about your dungarees.

With that in mind, the surprise about this show is that it demonstrates that far from being just a glib smart arse, Amstell is an immensely clever and dynamic stand-up: the self-knowing wit is still there, but so is a thoughtfulness and compassion the telly doesn’t show.

His searing honesty about aspects of his life; his Jewish upbringing, his visit to a GUM clinic and his uneasy relationship with his step dad; soften up his edges, and he’s at his funniest when he’s satirising the sort of hip young people Popworld epitomised. His persistent references to his own adlibs indicate that Amstell doesn’t want to be perceived as just another face off the telly, which in turn highlights the only real weakness with this show: the audience expectations being thrust upon him.

I know a lot of the audience liked Popworld, but there’s kind of a hyped up enthusiasm, bordering on obsequiousness, which charges the atmosphere with a sort of forced joviality rather than letting Amstell’s decent material and delivery stand on its own.

by Jane Buffham