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drinks Monday 1 September 08 Edinburgh Reunion in London
Topping And Butch Hit Leicester Square 26-27 September 08
Matt Blaize and Russell Howard
in
EBONY AND IRONY
Verdict: Two outstanding comedic talents
Edinburgh - Underbelly - August 02
Matt Blaize breezes on stage to face a multi-national party in the front row - from America, Australia, Israel, and all points between - whom he quickly interrogates and befriends. He's a sensitive inquisitor, asking the Israeli: 'Is it as fun as it sounds?', and extending the theme to the gig: 'If I die tonight, I'm taking some of you with me.' 'I'm political', he explains, 'Russell's whimsical - like being licked by a fox'. He introduces Russell Howard and bounds off.
Howard's in conversational mood. 'I went to the zoo recently. Hi! Two, I'm with ma Bitch'. He was appalled at the price - £30, and worried by the question 'Have you brought any animals with you?' / 'No, I thought that was your job' / 'Very funny, Sir'. His Fiesta started to overheat driving through the lion enclosure, 'sounded like a goblin having its balls removed', waking up 8 lions. Howard escaped.
Back home with his parents in Brighton, Howard was arrested by a man who said 'I'm a police officer' and 'grabbed my nuts. I don't remember that in The Bill'. He's off at lightning speed, not just ('one-legged') from the deranged and likely bogus arm of the law, but to tangent after tangent of subtle storytelling, and the audience is hugely amused.
Howard's, impish-looking, medium height, light build, dodgy T-shirt, blond-haired, and white. Blaize is an elegant mountain of a man, making 6 foot look small, black (the Ebony of the title), cropped hair. Howard's off, Blaize takes the stage.
Blaize tackles cultural issues with the same sensitivity as politics: he's keen to dispute the myth that Black men 'won't go down on women. A comedy pearl. We eat pussy like it's dropped from the sky by the Red Cross'. He invites us to play The Honesty Game, where for 20 minutes everyone will tell the truth. He describes reactions of old ladies in front of him 'who find a 6'-4" tall Black man in line to use the cash machine'. He discusses penis exposure with Daniel in the audience and takes a vote on who would like to see. There's a loud crash and a man in the back row falls off his collapsible chair.
Blaize asks the audience - still in honesty mode - about drugs. He's anti-drug 'I have never taken drugs.... I'm not anti-drugs, it's just not cool to me'. Then he's on to infidelity, and a quick test of the audience's extra-relationship adventures. Time whisks by, hecklers are dispatched, all too soon it's time for a serious finale: 'Standing naked in the shower, I have ... legs like marble ... a 6-pack stomach' It's OK, there's not a punchline: 'I'm just trying to score pussy after the gig'.
Russell Howard and Matt Blaize together give a very funny gig of contrasting style. Their common area is perceptive intellectual humour and a gifted rapport with the audience. They're both adept at working the crowd - quite far beyond the limits at times, which adds to the excitement - but keeping people with them. It's a fine show, and an inspired pairing of two outstanding comedic talents.
END
John Park
reviewed Saturday 24 August 02 / Underbelly - Belly Laugh
related topic - our review of The Establishment (host Matt Blaize).
For information about Matt Blaize and Russell Howard see Chortle - The UK Comedy Guide
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
