Comedy: Russell Kane – Human Dressage

Date: August 10th, 2009 Author: Joe Daniels
Category(s): Comedy: Russell Kane
Comments: 0

Comedy
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Russell Kane – Human Dressage
Pleasance Courtyard

The first show of Russell Kane’s fringe run kicks off with his trademark energy and flamboyance.  It’s a winning formula – his over-the-top physicality, combined with self-deprecatory stories – and one which has earned him not only a career in live stand-up, but also in television.

However, his liveliness seems to serve two purposes: to encourage the audience to laugh, and to hide the lesser material.  Whilst a joy to watch as he prances around the stage, the stories he tells sometimes suffer from a severe lack of originality: telling jokes about being caught masturbating by a relative get old by the time most people are twelve.  An overlong routine about his right-wing Dad also ends predictably.

That said, there is much to like here when you (and Kane) look past the obvious.  There are some brilliant gags about how people devote their lives to their image, but he never seems condescending or arrogant about his world view.  All in all, Kane’s whirlwind delivery carries the audience along, and despite occasional lapses in material, the laughs keep coming.

JD