Musical comedy is a genre where the mediocre can prosper with average comedians hiding behind averagely strummed guitars. This however is not the case with Jonny and his less than puritanical Baptists, who set the pulse racing, the foot tapping and the face aching with a bellyful of boisterous ballads. Most music genres are used and abused by his satirical wit - wit that has the audience howling in their seats, clapping their hands and by the end, singing for more. His songs are saturated in good humoured originality and sharp lyrics that could leave you with ‘paper cuts between your thighs,’ to quote from the show.
Jonny is a natural performer who thrives in the limelight. His easy, affable manner is playful and inoffensive as he readily engages with the audience to ‘inspire’ songs about Scottish Independence, Doing It In The Library and Upper Middle Class Gangster Children, to name but a few. His set tires towards the end, as does he. He seems to take a downward love-embittered turn for the worst, which is still funny but not quite as good. It disappoints because up until that point he has resisted using the well-worn material of love or its disparaging opposite. His voice, deadpan delivery and buoyant bravado, however, more than make up for it.
