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Lewis Schaffer + 2

Note: This review is from 2000

Review by Steve Bennett

This review was going to kick off with some sarcastic comment about the '+2' referring to the size of the audience. But that would be plain untrue.

On this night, there was just one paying punter in the room otherwise filled with freeloaders and people literally dragged in off the street, including a noticeable number of tourists with the flimsiest of grasps of the English language.

This cannot be a good setting to judge the three apparently experienced US comics ­ the eponymous compere plus Bert Kreischer and Patrice O'Neal ­ trying their all-American material in Scotland.

Perhaps inevitably, the show was a bomb. The comics themselves were genuinely concerned that they weren't getting laughs and started struggling to explain themselves, when marching on regardless would probably have been the best policy.

O'Neal ­ a towering, menacing presence in the best of circumstances ­ turned angrily on the audience while Schaffer tried too hard to persuade us to love him.

It's a shame the evening went so pear-shaped, as the material seemed reasonable enough - which is a bit like saying, iceberg aside, the Titanic was a pretty decent ship.

This is never going to be a five-star show, but who knows what it would be like with a more appreciative crowd. However it will come as no surprise to the few who witnessed what happened that ill-fated night that this show doesn't come recommended.


Review date: 1 Jan 2000
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

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