Markus Birdman’s comedy dwells on serious themes, a fact that is perhaps unsurprising considering the 40-something stand-up suffered a stroke a few years ago which caused him to lose a quarter of his eyesight and confined him to medication for the rest of his life. However, this show is no grim trudge through the injustices of life; rather, it is a celebration and examination of life and death, confronting weighty themes with a winning combination of brute honesty and good-natured humour.
There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, with many of the best coming from Birdman’s easy, quick-witted repartee with the audience. His stroke and the events which followed it take up much of his routine and yet the material never stays into depressing autobiographical monologue or lists of saccharine clichés on the meaning of life. Indeed, as Birdman himself points out, while everyone in the ward around him was finding God in their desperation, he – the son of a vicar who later rejected his religious upbringing – most certainly was not.
What we get instead is a jaunty, lively account of a particularly troubling period in one man’s life, told with flair and confidence and peppered with moving insights. Early on in the show he draws our attention to one of his many forearm tattoos - a large, beautifully detailed depiction of a Mexican Day of the Dead skull - which in many ways sums up the comic’s entire attitude. Much like the famous Mexican holiday, Birdman’s show might grapple with potentially gloomy themes, but it does so in order to celebrate them as a necessary part of life. Here, death is not something to be shied away from, but rather embraced and openly discussed.
As is to be expected, not all of Birdman’s jokes are a success, with some going down better than others. It is also worth noting that his set-list is craftily hidden in the ornate backdrop, though admittedly this is easily forgiven given the sheer intricate beauty of the artwork and fact that the comic drew it himself. As a whole though, this is deftly-handled comedy, broaching serious themes with a light-hearted, celebratory touch that never strays far from the next big laugh.
