Review by Graeme Connelly

Scott Capurro is like a plague of locusts. He doesn’t stop until there is nothing left to devour and destroy. Everything in his path is subject to his hungry, chirping consumption.

It is a wonder that he doesn’t need an oxygen mask at the side of the stage just in case. That’s not a jibe at his advancing years – 51 – he really doesn’t pause for air. There is at least one pun, one-liner or double in every sentence this man utters, more often two or three. If they don’t get it, move swiftly on is his philosophy. No need to worry about that, though, they got it and they loved it. The audience was in howls of laughter almost constantly throughout this incredible, relentless performance.

Capurro doesn’t play gently. He goes for the jugular of any topic he touches on. Islam and homophobia bear the brunt of his onslaught here, but he is genuinely unafraid to make anything funny. This is truly daring and dark comedy, yet still there is the promise of a knob gag lurking around every corner.

As he ridicules and punishes the front row for their seat choice time and again, the laughs keep coming louder and louder. He is a real master of audience banter and his goal isn’t to swap Snapchats at the end of the gig. Capurro mercilessly mocks everyone in equal measure, and so thoroughly that after the halfway mark he can merely glance at someone knowingly and again we all fall about, knowing what he is thinking.

It's a 50-minute non-stop torrent of jokes, a cacophony of colourful humour and lurid and graphic descriptions of all manner of filth.

But then... a mood change to stillness, thought and reflection as Capurro talks poignantly and from the heart about his mother’s death, bringing a tear to his eye and to half the audience. This was the only point where he slows down, pausing and breathing and letting the moment sink in, perhaps as much for him as for those witnessing it. The sudden silence washed over the room and it is touching to see a man so proud and outspoken quietened.

It is impossible not to be moved. But of course, he finishes with a joke, so we all laugh again.

Capurro has a rare and beautiful talent to reduce a roomful of people to constant laughter, then leave them with a tear in the eye as well.

Review date: 19 Aug 2014
Reviewed by: Graeme Connelly
Reviewed at: Assembly Rooms