DVD review by Steve Bennett

Poor Rhod Gilbert doesn’t half get worked up… ranting with vein-popping indignation at all the nonsense in the world. But whatever you do, don’t tell him he’s got anger-management issues. That’ll only infuriate him further.

The Cat That Looks Like Nicholas Lyndhurst picks up the rage where his acclaimed Award-Winning Mince Pie left off. It’s a perfect companion piece, though still works as a stand-alone show.

It was prompted, he claims, by the press misunderstanding of the cause of his upset in that earlier show. He maintains its perfectly reasonable to get worked up about such apparently trivial issues as buying a duvet, as it’s the only proper response to all the consumer marketing bullshit that surrounds us.

The theme is continued here, with the nonsense spouted by vacuum cleaner salesmen, washing powder manufacturers… and even a Swiss guy in the stalls of this show prompting his volcanic outbursts. Something as apparently innocent as the phrase ‘panic buying’ sends him into a long spiral of outrage, driven by his pedantic compulsion to see through a vacuous phrase.

We’ve all been exasperated by such things, but the relentless passion gives a unique extra edge to Gilbert’s frustrations, which are all woven around an elaborate story about him being forced to confront that intolerant rage. Structural problems that were evident when he launched the show at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe have now been fixed, and the narrative keeps you hooked, rather than simply being a device to link disparate routines. He takes the art of the callback into extravagant new extremes.

There’s wit to his anger, too, combined with a playful self-awareness – and occasional tongue-in-cheek baiting of the audience, especially when he talks of women over-reacting to periods. The result of all this is compelling observational comedy, with purpose and passion.

Rhod Gilbert And The Cat That Looked Like Nicholas Lyndhurst
Recorded at: Hammersmith Apollo
Running time:84 mins
Extras: Back To Llanbobl (Again) (30min mockumentary)
Released by: 4DVD, November 15
Price £19.99. Click here to buy from Amazon at £11.93