Dan Antopolski Penetrating Gaze
Dan Antopolski is an excellent joke teller. Not so much a storyteller which is more fashionable. Dan was delightful and relentless, especially with puns. I get the feeling he hadn’t really decided on what his show was going to be about when he made his application or designed his poster. Or who knows? Maybe he’s just weird and unpredictable but he certainly doesn’t disappoint the punters. He runs in wearing the cape from the poster, then takes off his only prop and never refers to it again. His coming on and going off music was his own strange and interesting remix of Clannad’s theme from Robin Hood, which tickled me, but apart from perhaps referencing his cloak, it didn’t really have much to do with the rest of the show. But who cares? This guy was slightly and wonderfully unhinged.
Dan’s show didn’t have a comprehensive theme. He seemed sheepishly embarrassed to talk about what was obviously the most important thing in his life – his new family, but he’s so good at it, I wonder why the whole show wasn’t about it? Write what you know, they say. He kept saying that he was worried he’d bore us all, like parents showing baby photos, but if that was on the posters, people would know what they were in for and I for one would be interested. People not interested in being a new parent could fuck off. It’s as valid a comedy topic as a man’s cock surely? Dan’s show was actually refreshingly bereft of cock jokes. He performed three rap songs, the one about sandwiches was cute clever and funny but it was the one about his kids that was pure genius – ‘Babies are Cunts‘.
I loved Dan, his jokes are so brilliant and densely proffered that the audience I was with often failed to pick them up. In fact it was a strangely cold audience. Perhaps I shouldn’t blame them for not laughing enough, perhaps it was Dan’s job to feel the vibe and slow down, but I guess that, that is his style, it’s how he does it and you have to go in with your brain switched on and keep up! I was particularly impressed with his knowledge of a librarian’s cataloguing procedure and strangely the rest of the audience roared. A room full of Librarians? Or he was just very funny in his telling? If you are looking for comedy that makes your brain work and don’t mind a silly pun or a bit of baby talk, go see Dan Antopolski Penetrating Gaze.
Visit the Fringe Website for booking details.