Show Rating:

I tried to describe this act to someone after seeing it and failed. So
hold on, it's going to be a bumpy review.

I could say Reggie Watts is as good as Tim Minchin but more experimental. 'Sonic landscape with comedy' is one possibility, but makes it sound arty and dry. In fact, the show is a helter-skelter, an exciting aural montage of rap music, comic songs, and severely surreal combinations of words and utter nonsense.

It starts with American Reggie donning an impeccable English accent then building up rap music riffs live on stage with his sampler, then reverting to his own voice, cod German, bits of French and occasional gobbledegook with impeccable little surreal touches.

Frankly, I've seen a fair bit of comedy, but this was totally original, mixing Fatboy Slim, Eminem, neo-Lewis Carroll and even, unintentionally, old-school British comedian Norman Collier (there was a section where Reggie pretended the microphone went faulty, Norman's act from the Seventies ­ but Reggie would never have seen it).

I am speechless. Watts is, in the best sense, unpredictable and indescribable, though I'll try 'a sonic Salvador Dali'. The sell-out audience loved it and rightly so.

Oh, I almost forgot - there's even a very funny song about giving blow jobs, for those who like knob gags.

John Fleming