Review by Steve Bennett

It’s a cliché to consider young, trendy new male comics as little more than talking haircuts. So for Mark Diamond to draw so much attention to his barnet in the very title to his debut show either shows a confidence born from knowing he has a way of sharply subverting the image, or a supreme foolhardiness.

Turns out to be the latter.

For this very slight offering delivers as little as you might anticipate. He shows us some pictures of embarrassing hairstyles over his relatively few years on earth, as if we really care, and talks superficially about a few romantic encounters, from the festival shag who threw up on him to the teenage crush that never worked out. They’re not especially brilliant stories, and Diamond provides little added value.

He has some comments about what he looks like (tall) and that he’s part-Cockney with the almost obligatory racist granddad – yet is posh enough to have studied history of art at university. He now works in branding, so fabricates clients for the sake of a few puns, and presents a small selection of cartoons drawn on cards for props, which have nothing to do with anything else.

It’s clearly way too early in his comedy career to really be attempting a full show; for even with this padding, Breakup Haircuts only lasts half an hour. And it could still do with a severe trim, to pun on the theme.

Diamond is outshone buy his support, the promising Larry Dean, who knows seven tight minutes about his non-camp homosexuality and odd Glaswegian parents, are far more enjoyable that 30 flabby ones.

Review date: 21 May 2013
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Brighton Caroline of Brunswick