Sarah Archer’s adorable daughter invites us into the venue and welcomes her mother onto the stage, a fitting introduction for an adorable show. Archer is effervescent and her contagious smile entreats us to enjoy her show - and enjoy it we do, for the most part. Archer’s jokes and stories are predominantly funny and insightful, taking a keen look at the evil of advertising and the root of society’s needless and harmful cravings. She uses serious subject matter and overlays it with cheeky tales of her own experiences. This had the effect of bringing my own thoughts on the matter to the front of my mind where they remained, so that every laugh was accompanied by slightly deeper considerations.
Archer does foray into the realm of politically incorrect jokes but apologises after each one, ruining the effect. Her best jokes are stories: sarcastic and irreverent, she mocks herself, her venue, the audience and society. The jokes that let her down are those that peter out into awkward one-liners and sound recited. Impressions are also not her strong point. The multimedia is generally used well, presenting pictures and videos that support her witty commentary with real snippets of the society around us. However, with so many comedy shows now incorporating multimedia, this one didn’t stand out. Archer often read things from sheets of paper that could have been presented on the screen in order to capture the attention of the audience.
It was easy to want to love everything Archer did and said but the show just wasn’t quite funny enough. It is charming and entertaining though, so if you find yourself with an hour to fill between shows and you don’t want to spend any money, Constant Craving is a show that will give you a few free laughs and ensure that you leave wearing Archer’s smile.
