Chris Gethard: Career Suicide
The actor, improviser and comedian Chris Gethard is an unassuming, small, bespectacled man. He takes to the stage in the Soho Theatre's main room and informs the audience he will be telling them a story about his battles with depression and suicidal thoughts for the past twenty yars.
It is, as he concedes, not the most promising premise for a riotous hour of stand-up comedy. And it isn't quite that. But Gethard's abilities as a storyteller make it work, as he successfully mines the bleakest of stories for peculiar details, like deliberately crashing a car in New Jersey and hearing a chorus of "Carmella Sopranos" looking on. The story ends with an amusing, if shocking, awkward truth.
Gethard has toured with Mike Birbiglia in the US as his support act and his style of storytelling has clearly influenced him. Certainly there are parallels to be drawn between this and Birbiglia's "Sleepwalk With Me", as both explore the absurdities found in a life lived with an affliction. His therapist Barb becomes a recurring player in the show, skilled in empathising with her patient but with a rather more relaxed attitude to the terms of professional/patient confidentiality.
A couple of US specific references don't land, but otherwise Gethard has done his homework, as a reference to BBC3 receives one of the biggest laughs of the show. The show flies by to the extent that I didn't realise until afterwards that it was 25 minutes longer than its Edinburgh incarnation last August. A couple of dramatic light changes and a conventionally emotive finale about helping those in need have seemingly been added in the show's recent Off-Broadway run.You won't necessarily find belly laughs here, but there's much to enjoy from Gethard's heart on sleeve performance.
It is, as he concedes, not the most promising premise for a riotous hour of stand-up comedy. And it isn't quite that. But Gethard's abilities as a storyteller make it work, as he successfully mines the bleakest of stories for peculiar details, like deliberately crashing a car in New Jersey and hearing a chorus of "Carmella Sopranos" looking on. The story ends with an amusing, if shocking, awkward truth.
Gethard has toured with Mike Birbiglia in the US as his support act and his style of storytelling has clearly influenced him. Certainly there are parallels to be drawn between this and Birbiglia's "Sleepwalk With Me", as both explore the absurdities found in a life lived with an affliction. His therapist Barb becomes a recurring player in the show, skilled in empathising with her patient but with a rather more relaxed attitude to the terms of professional/patient confidentiality.
A couple of US specific references don't land, but otherwise Gethard has done his homework, as a reference to BBC3 receives one of the biggest laughs of the show. The show flies by to the extent that I didn't realise until afterwards that it was 25 minutes longer than its Edinburgh incarnation last August. A couple of dramatic light changes and a conventionally emotive finale about helping those in need have seemingly been added in the show's recent Off-Broadway run.You won't necessarily find belly laughs here, but there's much to enjoy from Gethard's heart on sleeve performance.
Comments
Post a Comment