Andy Zaltzman boldly unbuttons the cloak of civilisation
Andy Zaltzman has picked a real mouthful of a show title this year in Andy Zaltzman boldly unbuttons the cloak of civilisation, but is perplexed and perturbed by what he finds lurking beneath and it accurately describes what he set out to do. He thoroughly explores the world’s social and political ills, and attempts to get his head around them for the benefit of the paying punters.
The show was structured like a sporting match with two halves and a short interval in between that featured an audience quiz loosely based on the Bejing Olympics. In keeping with the sporting theme, Andy gave himself an extended “boxing ring” introduction where he attempted to fit as many rhyming descriptions in as possible. Punters should be warned that Andy’s magic begins before the show proper with plenty of wacky facts recited over the PA to the accompaniment of cheesy music.
Andy’s delivery style was extremely dense, wordy and fast paced. He packed so many brilliant ideas about a topic into such a short space, not one of them filler. At times it took great concentration to catch everything he said but your effort was rewarded. The quick pace was especially evident during the quiz segment where each multiple choice answer was an entire essay. Some were clearly funny answers but others may have had correct factual content hidden in there somewhere.
His material was extremely fact heavy and prior knowledge of the current affairs issues he covers would be helpful but not essential. Andy had a wonderfully left of centre view of the topics that made for some unpredictable punchlines, never going for the obvious jokes. The use of far out metaphores, literalist concepts and surrealist ideas provided plenty of laughs. This is highly intelligent gear with lashings of absurdity to prevent things from getting too heavily political.
During the interval punters did the usual interval things while the rest of us took part in the Olympic quiz. Hilariously strict instructions were listed in very fine print on the entry forms and a range of bizzare prizes were on offer. The top prize was Andy’s Great Uncle Morris, but my collegue awarded herself a Portugese accent.
The second half of the show gave Andy the excuse for a costume change with the “Zaltzman World Awards” ceremony. Decked out in velvet formal wear, he presented various awards to notorious world leaders, politicians, goverments and even a stand up comic. Complete with phoned in speeches and wonderfully apt trophies, this half of the show was more of Andy’s classic political analysis with some entertaining window dressing.
Through his unique point of view and delivery, Andy has the ability to make political humour accessable and interesting to those who would normally steer clear of the genre. Highly recommend.
Visit the Fringe Website for booking details.