If you’ve been looking all over the Fringe for some misogynistic bullshit, you need look no further: Randy Ross is your man. His show is good value for money too, because I can guarantee that these fifty excruciating minutes feel more like several hours. During this time, Ross takes his audience on an unerotic journey through his attempt at erotica, based on actual unerotic events.
The Chronic Single’s Handbook is of use only if you desire to learn how to repel women, and indeed people in general.
Ross has previously criticised reviewers who have not enjoyed his show as having their ‘panties all in a bunch’, considering their distaste to be a result of frigidity. I am anything but a prude, it’s just that I don’t find any amusement in - and am certainly not turned on by - hearing this man describe himself ramming his genitals into his girlfriend’s mouth as she gags and tries to push him off. Yes, they were engaging in submission and domination, but he denies her request for a safe word and breaches the trust of a girlfriend who to his surprise (but nobody else’s) leaves him immediately after this incident.
This man’s incapacity to understand or treat women as human beings is so great that it is hard to believe that this performance is not a joke; a character comedy poking fun at its own horrendous lead. At one point, Ross complains about only being attracted to women whose moods are variable, because they are too much to handle. When he tries dating a ‘boring’ and ‘stable’ woman, however, he is frustrated that she cannot handle his variable moods. His hypocrisy is boundless. Yet, even if it were a parody, this show would be unsuccessful: the room is near-silent for the entire performance. Not only do we not laugh with Ross, but he is so deplorable that we cannot even laugh at him.
To make even worse what is already an irredeemable show, Ross is neither an engaging performer nor a skilled writer. Alongside the misogyny, he spews out cliché after cliché in an aggressive yet monotonous voice. The Chronic Single’s Handbook is of use only if you desire to learn how to repel women, and indeed people in general. It is by far the worst show I have seen at the Fringe. It’s not me, Ross, it’s you.
