The English hate the Germans

Lewis Schaffer at the Edinburgh Fringe 2008

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Lewis Schaffer Is Free Until Famous In a Smaller Room at an Earlier Time
Live Review

In a tiny Free Festival room, holding 40 uncomfortably in stifling heat. Schaffer acts as ticket collector, steward and sound technician, shaking the hands of every audience member on their way in, exuding sincerity and engendering a community spirit. There were a couple of tricky customers on the front row but these were dealt with masterfully, being included in his act at every opportunity.

His material starts with a bang with remarks on how no one likes a mildly racist comedian. The racists don’t find it strong enough and liberals hate it for the opposite reason. He used two Taiwanese punters to help illustrate that by constantly, deliberately referring to them as Chinese and wilfully pushing the buttons.

The meat of the set was more in line with the title of the show. There were funny bits in this 30-minute diatribe about how the famous get preferential treatment over him, the lowly grinder of mirth, but the sentiment, by his own admission, led to dips in the humour.

We were, however, treated to a wonderfully conceited finale involving a Holocaust joke. This could be, in lesser hands, extremely dodgy ground, but the composure and skill used in reaching the punchline was remarkable.

Lewis Schaffer, by his own immodesty, is too good to be playing small rooms. He is a skilled, masterful and above all eye-wateringly funny guy. If you consciously choose not to see him, don’t bother coming to the Fringe.

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Lewis Schaffer is the only comedian I know of who can spend a full hour ranting abuse at his audience (in the most undignified and shambolic way) and STILL get a huge round of applause at the end of the show. Expect no finesse, no preparation and a lot of very ropey gags, all salvaged by his seemingly god-given ability to read an audience.

AC, August 2011

Been working at comedy clubs for the last few years, and have never seen anything worse in my life, disgustingly bad

mitch, November 2010

He is a god. Lewis is as funny as they get

david w, November 2009

Stunning!

brian damage, August 2009

Last night at the Best Of The Fest, Louis insulted everything including comedy. I hope his show is a lot better than that...

ShockJD, August 2009

Lewis last night seemed more like a lecture that a stand-up show, he totally bombed.

Chris, July 2009

One of my absolute favourites, seen him a few times over the last year and he has never failed to make me consistently laugh out loud for the full duration of his shows, a man on the way back up.

John S, July 2009

Just gets better 'n' better!

Michael Monkhouse, November 2008

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