At Chortle Fast Fringe 2010

Disproving God

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Carey Marx: Laziness & Stuff
Live Review

Carey Marx is impotent.

Comedically speaking, at least. He’s been offering up ideas to change the world for a decade or so, but, he admits: ‘No one is really listening to me.’

He can’t even get the audience he deserves – this was a particularly lairy weekend crowd, with a bunch of lads in the front row letting rip with a Pavlovian ‘way-hey!’ when Marx says, with no intention of double entendre: ‘My wife came into the bedroom.’ Never mind the clever theories and smart punchlines, with which Marx is well-endowed, comedy is merely saying the word ‘come’, apparently.

It certainly made for an odd dynamic. Much of Marx’s material is aimed at exploding some hack comedy myths: how crap in bed must you be to not be able to find a clitoris, for example. Only problem is, our laddy lads clap the tired myths as if it was comedy gold, not interested in the deconstruction. But after something of an awkward battle of wills, Marx pulled the gig back to his agenda; those years served on the circuit coal-face doing him proud.

Once he was finally allowed to deliver his intended material, Marx demonstrated his usual flair for giving uncomfortable subjects a cheeky twist. He can be quite brutal, in a darkly comic Quentin Tarantino kind of way, as his routine on ‘rabbi rape’ clearly proves. But generally the tone is playful – whether it’s on testicles floating in the bath or , erm, slapping women. Not acceptable, but surprisingly playful.

Fat people come in for some particular stick; he hates the way they seem to stop dead in the street, and the anecdote about a fat schoolgirl on a bus is hilarious – and far from the usual complaints about tinny mobile phone music.

There’s no astounding high concept to this show, just a few themes to link otherwise disparate chunks of stand-up. But he’s a bright operator, with a smart – even smartarse – flair to much of his writing that guarantees a solid cascade of laughs.

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I watched him last night at Fat Tuesday in London and he died the biggest death on stage I've ever seen, it was awful. He read every line like a script with poor delivery and no charisma. The material wasn't funny. He patronised the audience and got very defensive and everyone ended up walking out. The guy next to me was asleep... bad times

beckie, June 2009

Just saw Carey at Old Rope... not one for Aunt Maude. Taste issues aside, he fulfills the prime purpose of a stand-up, i.e. to make you laugh so hard you need medical help. Well done mate!

Michael Monkhouse, November 2007

Anyone who shows up with a list of things they feel it's wrong to laugh about will need to have their lips surgically unpursed at the end of Marx's set. But, if you're after cathartic comedy, he's a treat. So he finger-fucks a teddy bear on stage. No one ever complained when Harry Corbett did it.

Steve, September 2007

Saw Carey headline in Birmingham last night and he stormed the place. Every line was a gem. A superb talent

Rich Dudley, June 2006

Absolutly amazing ,a brilliant act - possibly up there as one of the best stands ups I've seen

Matt, December 2005

Saw him in Birmingham last night. Not sure about the Albino stuff - even though it's not technically racist, the thinking behind it is kind of similar. But he was the only one there to get me laughing like an idiot.

Charlie, May 2005

Another funny guy with dreadful material. Came on stage and read his mail out, it wasn't even interesting let alone funny. Name dropping is another unfunny habit of his, who cares about the 'really really funny comedians' he lives with...which is probably where the problem lies, try your new material out on someone else, I hate to see talent wasted.

Bill, May 2005

Quite easily the funniest comedian I've ever had the good fortune to see live

Wilkinson, May 2005

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