Chris Durkin: Easily Distracted
Show type: Edinburgh Fringe 2006
Chris Durkin delivers a hilarious show of pure stand-up class. An intelligent and witty look at everyday life, all served with an overwhelming sense of fun. However, Chris cannot guarantee that he'll be wearing underwear
Comedians
Reviews
Original Review:
Most comedians think long and hard about producing their first show for the Edinburgh festival. They make sure they're ready for the experience, hone their material and test it out over and over again. Just because you've got a solid ten minutes doesn't mean you can do an hour it takes a lot of hard work and commitment to create a fringe show.
Durkin however, had only ever done three short open spots before performing this Edinburgh run of full-length solo shows. There's a few ways you could consider this a brave move, a stupid one or unbelievable cocky in thinking that he can do a Fringe show without experience.
To be fair it probably isn't a case of cockiness, but the end result is that we're watching a wet-behind-the-ear open spot that you might normally endure for five minutes (after all, everyone's got to start somewhere) stretched out across 50.
As the audience enters the room it's almost silent; then in the quiet we hear Durkin flick the room light off and the stage lights on and start his short intro CD before he bounds on to the stage.
He turns out to be a genial fella with an easy stage presence - though this may be due to the fact at the point of this review he had been doing the show for three weeks. His material however is just a series of chatty observations; he appears to have forgotten about the gags.
At one point we find him describing the sex lives of the praying mantis and the angler fish and er that's it. Elsewhere there's amiable but unfunny story about his sluttish guinea pigs, a cringeworthy routine about 'motherfuffing' and a lazy generalisation that all men are horny.
The crowd were even helping out, when Durkin notices that a girl has hand cream in her bag it's the guy at the back, not Durkin, that makes the connection with the recent plane terror alerts and shouts "'Arrest her! She's a terrorist!'
Let's hope Durkin has learned at least one thing from the experience that it's not as easy as it looks.
Marissa Burgess
continue
Older Comments
M Kemp - 26/08/2006
I saw him last night and it was painful. A horribly unfunny night.
Pauline Telfer - 22/08/2006
Saw him in a sell-out show and he was energy personified. The venue was like an oven and there were people standing at the back and at the sides who must have been struggling to stand for an hour in that heat. Good show though and he didn't let the heat get to him. His act was fresh and personal and he engaged in some nice moments with the audience, who seemed to enjoy it with lots of laughs.
Richard Gill - 20/08/2006
Chris Durkin s material was not bad and his enthusiasm to perform was infectious but the show wasn t funny enough. To his credit, he continued amiably when four of the ten people in the audience walked out during the performance.
Andy Ryan - 05/08/2006
Went to the preview show of Easily Distracted last night and was very pleasantly surprised! I hadn't heard of Chris Durkin before, but we took a chance as you do with many fringe acts. Turned out to be a really good show and I highly recommend it. Got a feeling Chris Durkin is a star in the making. Great show Chris!
Ally - 28/07/2006
I know someone who heard him do a 5 minute spot in Glasgow and he was hilarious! Should be a good show.
Denis Vrang - 14/07/2006
I think he is a genius; he invented a way to get publicity out of a handicap and that's bigger than selling one-legged turkeys from a three-wheel van
- 12/07/2006
I read the article about Chris on Chortle and what he's attempting takes a lot of guts. I plan to see his show just to see if he can pull it off. I wish him the very best of luck.