Review by Steve Bennett

Sleazy Harlem pimp Valentine Flyguy should have been a fantastic comic creation.

The Afro wig, the tasteless Seventies threads and the arrogant jive talk should all combine in one splendid comedy character.

Yet creator Zeron Gibson seems to have spent more time on the material he wears than the material he delivers.

Entering somewhat shambolically, and certainly not with the flourish you would expect of a New York hustler, Gibson quickly drops all pretence of characterisation and launches into an uninspired stand-up routine.

It seems unlikely, for instance, that a Harlem whoremonger would be particularly concerned by the difference between English and Scottish football hooligans. Yet that doesn't prevent a lacklustre Flyguy routine on the topic.

Things pick up a bit in the second half of the chronically under-rehearsed show, when two unsuspecting audience members are invited on stage for the game show How Black Are You?

Here Gibson stays in character, and works spontaneously well with his victims, offering just a glimpse of how strong the Flyguy creation could be.

But a lame musical number and the feeblest of closing gags (a lightbulb joke, of all things) bring the shoddy proceedings to a close.

Special mention should be made, though, of support act Kevin Sherwani, who failed to say or do anything in the least amusing in his sad five-minute set.

Review date: 1 Jan 2000
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett