Twenty years is a long time. Especially in the comedy circuit where you must reinvent yourself over and over again. This blurb states that after twenty years in comedy, Rob Deb begins to question the place in a recession for a caped comedian. Well, the problem isn’t the cape, it’s the comedian.
Rob Deb needs to get that sparkle back.
Rob Deb demonstrates that being a comic book fan and a comic are two different things. Geeks can make great comedians, but unfortunately there was more used car salesman in his appearance than geek. The one hour show, starting off with a promising warm-up by Pat Casey, ended with a pompous Q&A session. I was left wondering if Rob Deb just couldn’t be bothered to come up with enough material to fill the whole hour.
Rob Deb began his comedy career in 1994 at the Cosmic Comedy Club in Hammersmith. As it happens, I lived in Hammersmith in 1995 and visited the club frequently. Maybe I even saw one of Rob Deb’s early performances, I don’t know. What I do remember from those days was the explosive energy and bubbling enthusiasm of the aspiring comedians who got up on that stage. In 2014, Rob Deb needs to get that sparkle back.
It’s not all bad; parts of his material were quite entertaining. Another comedian might have had a whopping success with it. The stories about him as the GMTV Batman consultant and quitting a job wrapped up in a Superman towel cape were funny. But most of the material was perfect for just one thing: the bullshit bingo. If you don’t know what bullshit bingo is, it’s a game where you write down catchphrases that you know you’re going to hear at an event. When ticked phrases fill a row, you yell: “Bullshit!”
Ready? Go. Problems of living with your mom and dad at 38. Tick. Reminiscing the good old days of working in a comic book store. Tick. Horrid customer service experiences in retail. Tick. An awkward blind date experience. Tick. Speaking three languages, one being Klingon. Tick. Taking a nephew to the cinema to avoid the pervert stigma. Tick. New Star Wars films being a waste of space. Tick. And on and on it goes. Lenny Bruce of sci-fi he isn’t, but with his vast knowledge of comic books and superheroes he could undoubtedly come up with more original material. He just needs to find that holy grail of motivation. Or call it a day.
