I hope for Harvey Keitel’s sake that he isn’t aware of this show taking place. What could have been a great subject for an evening of comedy, turned out to be a disappointing performance that consistently fell flat on its face. With a pocket full of rave reviews and a brush with fame, as he had once acted alongside the Hollywood great in none other than a Direct Line advert, Matt Green had everything going for him.
What could have been a great subject for an evening of comedy, turned out to be a disappointing performance that consistently fell flat on its face
So where did it all go wrong? I think the PowerPoint presentation is a good place to start. It was difficult to figure out whether it was purposely haphazard or just a lack of effort. Yes, the movie clips he was using were dated but the whole arrangement just seemed tired and drawn out. Some of his punchlines were funny but his style was quite sloppy as he slumped between long drawn out stories to not-so- punchy one liners.
Throughout the show he referred back to a game he had invented, Kettle or Keitel, where the audience had to guess who or what the thumbnail image belonged to. It was vaguely amusing the first time but didn’t need to be repeated. Which could also be said of the Harvey Keitel mannequin. Again, in theory, this could have been quite amusing but just lacked any real substance. Yes, it’s creepy that you have a Harvey Keitel mannequin but no, we don’t really believe that you take it around with you.
The skit about lookalikes, in which he produced a line-up of some very unconvincing celebrity impersonators, did get a few laughs but it wasn’t very original. However, to give credit where it’s due, when he pointed out the random similarities that he shares with Mr Keitel it was well deserving of the roar of laughter than ensued.
His delivery could use some work. He bumbled through quite a lot of his stories and almost seemed relieved when he could pause for a breather and play yet another clip of Harvey Keitel, either topless or stating that he wasn’t masturbating.
If he had set out to win a world record for the amount of times one human being can say the name Harvey Keitel in one hour, he would definitely deserve the honour. Yet leaving the venue, I couldn’t help but think that it might have been a better evening if I had spent it at home watching clips of Harvey Keitel on YouTube, in the comfort of my own living room.
