Review by Steve Bennett

Justin Hamilton is having a midlife crisis, fretful that being a stand-up is no longer the life for a man of 35. It’s not just the wild life, or the soul-sapping reality of performing gigs to people who care little about what he’s saying that’s getting him down. He’s also worried that his real life has become blurred with his job, and that every aspect of his existence however personal, is now fodder for his act.

So what has he done about this heartfelt predicament? Used it as fodder for his act, of course…

The Killing Joke is a one-man, one-act play about a comedian’s angst. About having to play up to the image of a perpetual prank-playing funnyman until it takes over your life, and you can do nothing else, however much you might want to. It’s clearly very personal piece for him, not to mention a bold one.

It is not, for starters, particularly funny, as comedy festival shows go, nor is it meant to be. However, it’s far from the bleak navel-gazing about regrets that it could threaten to be, either.

Some of Hamilton’s road tales with his fast-living pal Mickey D are certainly entertaining, but they serve only to make his dilemma more ambiguous. It’s easy to romanticise about the tears of a clown – but stand-up is, for most of its exponents, about having fun both on and off stage, as these upbeat anecdotes demonstrate. Giving it up would curtail that, whatever the downsides of the job.

This is a piece about the realities of stand-up; both the compromises of art against cash, of the sacrifices a comedian must make to have what is often seen as a dream lifestyle. None of the statements Hamilton makes will come as any surprise to people who know comedy and comedians, but and the layman is less likely to have considered these things, and there’s no doubt that this points are skilfully made.

Hamilton’s a decent actor, too, convincingly showing both sides of this coin – which should come as no surprise, since he’s clearly experienced both.

The result is a mature and honest stock-take of a decade and a half on the road, and the toll it takes on an older body and soul. The Killing Joke certainly offers an absorbing alternative in a festival programme full of stand-up hours.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

Review date: 1 Apr 2008
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett