Revelation of the night was support act, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd. Now thirty, the wee guy with the glasses from Glasgow has grown (not in height) into a proper stand-up. He had some cracking material and demonstrated a physicality I'd not seen in him before. He's put in the time and it shows. But, as he commented, we weren't there to see him perform.
You could describe this as vintage Frankie Boyle if the vintage was that of a supermarket wine which somehow had evaded being drunk, lying in the cupboard for months despite the continued misery of our everyday life. By this I mean, chunks of his material were not new, recycled from his telly scripts, with some jokes on the wrong side of their expiry date. The fault there could be mine, having watched all his recent telly stuff and been to see him live during a work in progress for the telly programme. It's likely some of tonight's jokes were never broadcast but were still familiar to me. Those are the perils of going back to see a favourite comedian too soon. It didn't spoil the night - he's still a brilliant crafter of jokes - but it did sour my enjoyment.
He railed a couple of times at the many coughers in the audience who selfishly insisted on sharing their germs. He also noticed one punter filming the show and politely told him to stop. Then less politely when the bloke argued back. I thought we were about to see our first eviction of the night but the moment passed. The rest of his banter with the audience was half-hearted, like a comedic contractual obligation included to pad out the time. Somehow he missed the girl a few rows in front of me who reacted to his jokes by putting her hand in the air, tapping her fingers together like an alien who'd misunderstood applause.
For a show called Lap of Shame, I can't say I wasn't warned. Not Frankie's finest hour.
Ticket price: £26.75 from ATG.
Tour Blurb
"Frankie Boyle’s on tour. Buy a ticket, because by the time he arrives, the currency will be worthless and you and your neighbours part of a struggling militia that could probably use a few laughs."
And also:
"As part of a continuing physical and mental tailspin, Frankie Boyle suppresses his overarching sense of futility and horror to tell jokes for an hour in the final days of organised human life. Note that these are the final performances of last year's Fringe show! The show has been honed on a tour of re-education camps, robot barracks and colosseums built from old shipping containers."
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