Luke Kempner takes a Luke in the mirror in this gently funny show, poking fun at himself and the impressions he uses to express himself. He is a comedian and impressionist and uses these skills to investigate who he really is.
A show with snippets of gold
Kempner’s show last year was funny but perhaps a bit safe. The comic makes fun of this during his new effort and is seemingly making an effort to change this; mainly by dropping in a lot of expletives which feel a tiny bit gratuitous. He pops his characters in ridiculous situations, and makes no secret that he is crowbarring references in only to show off a particular impression. He almost explicitly tells the audience he is only doing it because he finds it funny. Most of the time it works.
Many sections feel as though they linger for too long but there are moments of brilliance. Bear Grylls presenting a television show with David Attenborough, Andy Murray and Louis Theroux is particularly good. His Alan Carr impression always goes down a treat as does Jeremy Kyle. Perhaps surprisingly, the impressions of the people we don’t know (such as his mother-in-law) are really fun and we see behind the voices, as Kempner shows us a bit more about himself; or the self he wants us see. It would be nice to see a bit more of the real Luke Kempner.
Kempner trained at The Guildford School of Acting, and has performed in a plethora of shows in the West End. 2016’s show ended with a fabulous rendition of 'One Day More' (from Les Miserables) performed in a bizarre mix of impressions; it was hilarious, and really showed where his skill lies. Kemner’s talents as a singer are missed in Take A Long Hard Luke At Yourself. A brief snippet of a football chant was most definitely not enough. One Day More? One song more please.
A show with snippets of gold, this is a light-hearted comedy. Kempner takes a Luke at himself, and I like what I saw.
