Will Hanmer-Lloyd takes us on a political rant about everything you can find on the Guardian. A few years ago, a young Russell Brand got on stage at the Secret Policeman’s Ball and read out stories from the Daily Star. Together we laughed at their rudeness and idiocy. Feeling that this was too low brow and uncivilized, Hamner-Lloyd has re-hashed a similar routine using The Guardian and the Daily Mail as stimuli. Sadly, those two aren’t quite as funny.
That isn’t the only problem this comedian has with unoriginality: a couple of his jokes I’ve already heard elsewhere at the Fringe - told slightly better too.
You do have to give credit to a comedian who thinks he can win over a drunken crowd at nearly midnight with jokes about being middle class and the politics of Palestine but as he entered the space we got the feeling that this vulnerable and almost nervous young man had been thrown to the lions. The first half of his show is full of upwards inflections at the end of every line and after each one he asked us ‘was that one funny?’ Sadly, this desperation meant that more often than not they weren’t.
Towards the latter half of the show it seemed he had warmed up and the jokes actually to started flowing, which was swiftly helped by some great interactions from a guy in the second row who sat whispering ‘that’s so true’ after every line. That gave our young comedian the confidence he needed to make his puns funny. In fact, it was the audiences interaction and the sense of togetherness that made this show a pleasant experience.
Hamner-Lloyd is undeniably a loveable geek and maybe in a few years he’ll find his feet, but the jeans and t-shirt image doesn’t match the slightly self absorbed and self righteous gags he threw at us. Unfortunately he becomes just another ‘council flat paid for by a trust fund’ type, the sort you’d see swinging from war memorials at protests.
