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From BBC Three's Live At The Apollo

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Russell Kane won the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2010, on his third time of being nominated, having scooped best newcomer in 2006.

His career started in 2004, when he won the Laughing Horse new act competition, and the following year he was nominated for best newcomer in the Chortle awards.

Russell Kane: Human Dressage - Fringe 2009
Live Review

In a show preoccupied with ‘the passion and the pause’, those quintessential bursts of British emotion followed by speedy resumption of the stiff upper lip, Russell Kane evokes social posturing, dancing and memorably, masturbation.

Unfortunately, last year’s if.comedy nominee is such a committed sociology student that he can’t just passionately deliver his material, and is forever pausing himself to contextualise what’s he saying. His hustle remains, but the flow’s off.

Class-consciousness, pretension and a ready self-deprecation have always been part of what makes Kane such a gifted, distinctive comic. But his development stalls here because he can’t get over himself. He opens by thanking us for being a Saturday night audience and bemoans the arty crowds he’s had thus far, apparently guilty of analysing his comedy as deeply as he has. ‘So far, so platitudinously obvious comedy elite,’ he remarks at one point, then later expresses surprise that so many enjoy the wanking gags.

Judging rather than letting himself be judged, getting his self-criticism in first, seem as instinctive to Kane as the kicks and skips he reinforces his points with on stage. His most elaborate dance he reserves for critics, immediately qualifying a joke with scarcely mentionable prejudice by imagining his feint frustrating a Guardian reviewer. Said in jest, it’s nevertheless part of a bizarre, ongoing ritual whereby any negative reception he anticipates for his routines are already written into them.

You don’t need to be Freud to attribute some of this passive-aggressiveness to his racist, overbearing father, principally because Kane does it for you, reiterating that his left-wing politics are a reaction against the old man and suggesting he took his A-levels through spite.

Yet here is where he flashes his brilliance. He may repeatedly and needlessly lay claim to facts for backing up his arguments, but his recalled rush of ‘dad love’ for the RAC man says more about changing male behaviour than any stats about falling sperm counts and muscle density.

It’s the personal stuff, the memories of his oft-evoked nan and his studious research into pornography that lends weight to his more sweeping statements. Though he’s negligent when he claims that Australians’ optimistic disposition will protect them from terrorist reprisals, overlooking the 2002 Bali bombing.

While his closing routine about how he’s messed up his younger brother is weak compared to what’s gone before, there’s nevertheless plenty of astute and funny observations in this hour about age, nationalities, gender and sexuality. It’s just a shame that Kane won’t always let his audience decide that for themselves.

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Saw him at St David's Hall. Extremely energetic, dreadfully funny and his material is embarrassingly true. Pure comedy genius in its finest form.

Sam Pryce, March 2012

Russell at the Ironworks Inverness 16th March,he played to a capacity crowd despite feeling unwell, but like a true professional he just got on with the gig and proved his worth. Audience loved him, despite a few hecklers, he coped reasonably well with them. He certainly makes good use of the stage and engages his audience with ease and the time past quickly, too quickly! Awards received at the Edinburgh Festival are testament to his skill as a comedian and they showed that night.

Douglas Thomson, March 2011

Hilarous, and fit as fuck!

Daisyford, November 2010

Is it just me who thinks Russell Kane and Pete Firman are the same guy?

J, May 2010

He is not funny... at all

Smiler, January 2010

".... the strutting, preening physicality of his stage act serves no comedic purpose...." yeah, like Max Wall, Tommy Cooper and the like. Oh, wait a minute.... Fair enough, you didn't like the guy but maybe you need to be a tad more specific about his *material* for readers to afford this any weight over and above a simple "not for me".

MrC, December 2009

If people find him funny, they find him funny - but comedy genius he ain't. Watching him on Channel 4's Magners Brighton Festival, I thought he was irritating in the extreme. The strutting, preening physicality of his stage act serves no comedic purpose and the machine-gun delivery masks a paucity of material. He's clearly very impressed with himself but he simply doesn't have the observational skills and insight into human behavior that mark out the best comics.

Nigel Lord, October 2009

I think he's copying Russell Howard.

Melina Fiol, August 2009

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