Tom Allen presents a hilarious hour of standup comedy in his show Indeed. His jokes fly fast, and innuendos abound. His delivery is quick, and it is laced with witty banter. It seemed like he was dropping as many hilarious asides to the wings as he was jokes. His style is very camp, but he doesn’t talk too much about being gay. For some gay comics, their sexuality seems to be their only punchline. This is not the case with Tom Allen. He puts together a fantastic set that is definitely worth seeing this Fringe.
An excellent comic and an enthralling storyteller.
I would say that the stronger parts of this show are when Allen is simply telling jokes, not necessarily his ad-libbing. The ad-libbing is funny – hilarious at times – but it can also grow wearisome through excessive repetition. What I mean by this is that Allen often went for the same kind of lines with his asides to the wings. He would take the piss out of someone for being blue-collar, make a gay joke and say with a camp delivery that the blue-collar chap didn’t get it, then return to his joke-telling. Then he would say something that sounded like an innuendo, turn to the wings and say that it wasn’t an innuendo, and then return to his material. And then he’d take the piss out of another person who looked blue-collar. If this sounds like a drag in my writing, know that it also got a bit tiresome during the show. I wish that he’d made a few less side-jokes, or perhaps just threw in some more variety. Then again, this kind of repetition might have been what Allen was going for.
Overall, this show has far more strengths than faults. Tom Allen is both an excellent comic and an enthralling storyteller. He had the audience consistently engaged throughout his set, even if he did rely a bit much sometimes on repeated gags. Still, this was a very funny standup act.
