Emmanuel may be the most ‘modest’ comedian I’ve ever seen. He is a greatly entertaining comic who uses his almost heart failure as a retrospect on his life and own mortality filling it with sharp jokes and witty additions of physical humour.
Entering the room to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song he gets the crowd buzzed up, singing along before giving us a quick background on his life – he used to be a bouncer, he’s at the fittest he’s ever been in his life (apart from his bad heart), and he loves his glasses because people take him more seriously.
He comes across as a proper London geezer, very likable and relatable as he tells us about chucking out people in clubs he’s not even working in, his drug use and his health scares. I wouldn’t say it’s quickfire jokes, but it’s certainly quickfire laughs.
When he gets serious it’s all still very personable. His mother’s own health scare and his dad’s abusiveness – it’s all worked together with reflection on his life and how it’s shaped the man we see on stage whilst keeping the gags flowing. He waits for the audience to stop laughing a good number of times, and a good few times you think the laughter has ended, it just starts up again.
Wrapping up, he ties in a collective of callbacks expertly and rouses the crowd to turn his deserved applause into another song as he makes his exit.
Emmanuel Sonubi: Life After Near Death, Cabaret Bar at Pleasance Courtyard, 20:10, Until 25 Aug
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/emmanuel-sonubi-life-after-near-death
