Life Drawing With a Comedian is a free pass to mess around in art class like you were never allowed to in school. You won’t be told off for drawing a strangely erotic anthropomorphic zebra or caricaturing the teacher. Absurdity is actively encouraged meaning the wilder the better!
Throughout the performance, the audience are given different prompts about what their next drawing is to express. This can start with a simple self-portrait but before you know it, you are drawing scenes of drug-induced euphoria or a cubic impression of a surprisingly well-sculpted comedian. It does not matter if you have the abstract ability of Jackson Pollock or if you have never sketched before (like me), the light-hearted atmosphere gives you the confidence to truly express your weird and wonderful ideas before sharing them with the class.
The near hour-long show does not necessarily have a strict narrative or set punchlines (which is occasionally very apparent), but the comics’ quick-witted remarks and enjoyably questionable poses are as hilarious as a considered script. While it might sound like the beginning of a bad joke, the natural charisma of this Scouser, Aussie and South African keep the laughs coming.
The energy of the crowd is matched by the seriously funny comics of Laughing Mob which means that the more you give yourself to the performance, the more you get out of it. There lies the magic of Life Drawing With a Comedian; somehow a group of strangers in a dark room giggling at each other’s badly drawn pictures leaves you feeling closer to everyone by the end of it. This is what the spirit of the Free Fringe is all about.
At its core, this show is simply fun. You may indeed find better stand-up this Fringe, but the way this show makes you forget that you are in a performance and leaves you feeling like you are at a games night with friends is special. When audience and comedian alike are in hysterics, you know you are on to a winner.
Life Drawing With A Comedian 12:30 Laughing Horse Below (Venue 442)
August 4 – 8, 10 – 15, 17 – 22, 24 – 28.
