At nineteen years old, Croydon’s Elliot Steel is on a fast track to success. His crass humour is balanced by a sense of authenticity and hilarious storytelling that keeps a young, modern audience in stitches throughout the show.
Maybe, in his own way, “the voice of our generation” is actually what he is.
Steel is always ready ready to take the piss out of any serious situation. He’s not afraid to play on serious issues - the EU referendum, democracy, feminism, and obesity are all touched on - and he enjoys making fun of his own grandparents. The audience loves it. And getting offended would put you in the exact category of politically correct gentry Steel makes fun of most. Indeed, Steel constantly pokes fun at the politically-liberal Edinburgh audience, with constant references to sex and drugs. His stories are hilarious and expected from a rowdy South London teen.
His set is smattered with statements about his brutal hangover from the night before - a Monday which left him alternating between sips of Red Bull and Water. At one point, he has a question for a member of the audience - but the answer given didn’t seem to play into the joke he had in mind. In a bit of a sweat, he laughs and freestyles away from the subject, regaining our attention with plays on cyberbullying. Besides the occasional moments when he happily admits he’s ‘not sure where he’s going with this’, the set transitions smoothly and the ending ties everything together perfectly.
Steel mocks one review which called him “the voice of our generation,” and shows some rarely-seen humanity when he says such a label better belongs to someone like Malala Yousafazi, the Pakistani schoolgirl who stood up to the Taliban and defended her right to an education. However, the way he smoothly brings the set back to topics like the laziness which prevented him from voting or the ridiculousness of certain feminist movements shows maybe, in his own way, “the voice of our generation” is actually what he is.
