Power corrupts, whether you are a totalitarian dictator or a comedian trying to win over a room of comedy-hungry punters. So how should you handle it? Well, Tim Clare has the answers, in a PowerPoint presentation guiding us through the many rules of leadership. The steps are varied and may include the incentive of receiving a Kinder Egg if you laugh the hardest, deconstructing the skills of a 'bi-polar' Willy Wonka, or making a Facebook page for a mass suicide event.Clare is painstakingly thoughtful and his attention to detail is evident throughout. Similarly, his ability to mix elevated and verbose language with more low-brow epiphanies such as ‘leaders are fit’ illustrate his dexterity with words. He switches comfortably between characters; from a creepy megalomaniac emailing a real life 'spell lady' to what can only be described as a historical rapper. This last character particularly stood out as it brought together the some of the clunkier aspects of the show, using his knowledge, wit and language to form a much more coherent result. Hearing Elizabeth I wax lyrical about her mother-flipping feminist status is hilarious and surreal in equal measure.As impressive as that is, Clare becomes tangled in his own concept, and his inflexible adherence to this heavy topic produces difficulties with his material. The numerous references to obscure examples of leadership become more reminiscent of an arrogant history lecturer than a comic. His dedication to a well-researched show means he becomes lost in his own narrative and neglects time for solid jokes. With a style of comedy that is neither shocking enough to be controversial or ironic enough to be quirky, his comfortable presence is at times a neglected consistent.Although the material produces sporadic chuckles rather than consistent roars, Clare manages to recover from his mistakes. Like a true leader, he takes us through the ups and downs of life with confidence and experience, and ensures we we still trust him by the end.
