Dancing With The Inflatable Colonel will give you a bit of everything, you will not like it all, but there are elements which you might love.
They kick off the hour with Chris Joyce who is purely a musical comedian. He has a spectrum of songs that he plays on his keyboard and gets the audience involved as much as possible; whether he sings it to one of the young females or has everyone clapping along, Joyce will have you engaged whether you like it or not. He is a funny act with some original songs and clearly a talent for music, the favourite was when he verged on controversy by singing about a racist girlfriend. But it was a tasteful and witty arrangement on the whole.
The set then descended into the outright bizarre with the second act of James Lacy. Beginning with a couple of innocent feelers, it soon became clear that the set was almost entirely based around sex. This culminates in a very odd character, Gareth Baxter, who is not particularly funny and probably does not deserve the amount of stage time Lacy allotted him. The surrealist nature comes to a climax (no pun intended) as the character feeds his inflatable prostitute a banana. It had the audience either laughing from its utter ridiculousness or open-mouthed in disgust. Either way, it is a bold move and one that is likely not to be replicated anywhere else in the festival.
Adam Greene was left to pick up the pieces in a more standard approach to stand-up. His array of observations and narratives was a strong mix, whilst his delivery was sound. He had a likeable manner, accepting his weight, though perhaps using a trick that is thoroughly overused by overweight comedians by now. Yet there was a structure, some recurring themes and a relatively strong ending to the performance.
Dancing With The Inflatable Colonel will give you a bit of everything, you will not like it all, but there are elements which you might love. And if feeding bananas to blow-up dolls is your thing, it is just the ticket.
