Review by Steve Bennett

They would cut into his build-ups as if this was any other conversation and took every joke at face value and reacted accordingly – and vocally. They were hard to ignore and impossible to silence, despite Klein’s best efforts, and certainly threw the show off-balance.

Not that this seemed to be a festival offering of particularly complex structure. Although a director is credited, this is a straightforward and unfocussed hour of genial, conversational stand-up.

His subject matter is generic: MySpace, texting when drunk, dating, old folks with Alzheimer’s.... Nothing out of the ordinary in the topics, nor in the way he approached them. He’s amiable, easy-going and breezily witty, but with absolutely nothing distinctive that would make you go out of your way to see him.

Except, that is, when he broke out of the script and, encouraged by that gobby front row, embarked on a confessional story about how he walked in on his now ex-girlfriend being unfaithful to him. The fact this was clearly something personal to him meant it had a draw none of his bland observational topics could hope to match. The fact there were, as yet, few gags to the tale was easily forgiven because the story was true, and because his telling of it was entirely natural.

The publicity blurb for this show – Klein’s fourth – talks meaninglessly about him aiming to ‘bring together and unite everyone that sees life for what it is… funny’.

But he should care less about trying to be all things to all people, and concentrate on routines that mean something to him, which he can tell from a personal point of view. Because judging from the tiny turn-out, a universal approach doesn’t guarantee popularity – despite the other claim of his blurb that he’s ‘a punter’s favourite’.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

Review date: 1 Apr 2008
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett