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Edinburgh Fringe 2003 (376)

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Show Details
Brendon Burns: Not For Everyone
Show type: Edinburgh Fringe 2003
Starring Comic:
Brendon Burns

Brendon Burns: Not For Everyone


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Description

Following on directly from his European tour Brendon will be taking his brand new full length show to this years Edinburgh Festival.

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Reviews

Original Review:

Show Rating:Brendon Burns: Not For Everyone rated 4/5

Brendon Burns is worth watching for one simple reason: he's got something to say.

Admittedly, his agenda isn't always unique, and his cocky posturing can grate, but you can't deny the man has passion, and that's what makes him so captivating

Edinburgh, he says, is the only time of year he can talk about what he wants to. He's playing to people who paid to see him, rather than roomfuls of drunken idiots after some generic comedy line-up. Occasionally, he confesses, he hates his audiences so much he stubbornly refuses to say anything that may possibly entertain them.

Not really a problem here. Burns sets out his stall fairly early on with a tirade of sick gags about 12-year-old Oriental prostitutes or the plus points of being on a bus with a suicide bomber - and promises darker stuff to come.

This material can come over as gratuitous, but it sets the level. Not For Everyone is as much a health warning as a title.

Things get more interesting as he gets more political. Burns's stance is very similar to that of US satirist Michael Moore - someone he dislikes for his opportunism ("It seems there's quite a market for complaining about the market"), though he admits he'd be equally hypocritical should he ever get the opportunity.

But for now he's the radical. He thinks President Bush allowed the Twin Towers to be targeted, compares the Middle East to Nazi Germany but with Arabs as 'the new Jews' and rages against the genetic selection which spells the 'genocide' of Down's Syndrome sufferers.

Hard-hitting stuff, and done with intelligence and wit. You may not agree with him, but you'll listen, thanks to his powerful style - striding the stage, spitting venom and daring the audience to be offended. Yes, it is somewhat derivative - but then what form of stand-up isn't?

Burns tempers the serious stuff with a bit of teasing, from time to time stepping back with a more playful 'just messing with you' kind of line, suggesting he's not the ball of fury his rock-and-roll image conveys and ensuring the comedy content remains high.

Not For Everyone, maybe. But if you want a bit of spice in your comedy, Burns is the man for you.
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Comments

BB's aggressive stance is a ploy to cover his very privileged posh-boy roots. Talk about massive overcompensation.

Terry, December 2003

Raw, loud, fantastic and disgusting.Between horrified gasps and side aching laughter.Never have I been so enlightened and entertained.10/10 for me!

Kristina, October 2003

Awful show. Whats the point in his existence?

Becky Summers, September 2003

Brendon Burns is a skinny, Australian misanthropic, misosgynistic, homophobe with all the insight of Bernard Manning but none of the charm or flair, Richard Littlejohn withot the hair. He plays to a Daily Mailesque audience who "has had just about enough of this PC nonsense" and longs for some old fashioned gags about oriental lezzies. Presumably he needs a knee-jerk PC reaction to justify his existence. If he was actually a funny man, rather than simply an angry dinosaur, that alone might justify it. The problem lies however, not with the subject of his material but simply that his jokes aren't funny. He only relies on shock value so if your neither a rabid Daily Mail reader nor a uptight super-right-on type who gets easily outraged you will find Mr Burns not funny, not shocking, just a bit crap. You can find plenty of Brendan Burns' propping up a bar, by themselves, in any Queensland backwater bar.

Jamie Wrate, August 2003

Good show, although he should try to put a stop now to the marketing comparing hi with Bill Hicks

Paul Vitles, August 2003

It's all very well being loud and angry but if you're just looking to court controversy by pinpointing easy subjects then it's quite sad. Anyone, really, anyone can talk about 'taboo' subjects to get a reaction. There is no skill involved in what he does. He should stick to playing rooms full of drunken idiots at least then he'll get the immediate knee-jerk reaction he's looking for. Otherwise 'his' audience might just think and realise he has nothing to say, even though he is prepared to shout it.

Adrian Stokes, August 2003

The man is on gargantuan form this year. The night I saw him, between the tears of laughter, I witnessed a comic speaking absolute truth and systematically destroying taboos. Phenomenal.

Ro, August 2003

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