Back, by critical demand, is Pierre Novellie’s world view through “the prism of autism”. It’s Novellie in his element, infuriated by noisy eaters and in palpable need to add factual sidebars that he’s itching to tell. There’s admin at the top of the show to get everyone up to speed who hasn’t done the reading (his own book outlining some autism nuance and classification), and a gag rhythm from him you could set your clock by. What follows is good reliable observational comedy – neurodiverse stylee.
In the last year Novellie has extended his tour, gotten married, and gone on honeymoon to Japan. When mentioning Japan a look of utter bliss falls over Novellie’s features (despite his proclamations to have little discernable facial expressions). It’s clean, it’s ordered, and there are rules – fantastic rules for everything so you always know what you should be doing! He’s elated. And furious at the UK for not being as pleasant. He may be saying it in a manner littered with punchlines, sometimes several exploding off the same set-up in happy abandon, but the truth of his indignations and elations are clear.
Novellie also touches on his wedding and London living, resulting in some great bits about the secular service and the bizarreness of the capital’s parakeet population. There’s an almost grotesque act out of an unnerving rat pod-people synopsis that verges on being too real but just manages to stay on the right side of laughter.
There’s a conclusion to the show which offers something of a symmetry to the opening. It doesn’t flow quite so clearly from the rest, it’s more worked and less stream-of-consciousness-with-punchlines. It does feel like a new page though. Maybe that’s another book in the offing.
Pierre Novellie: Okay, One More Then Bedtime, 19.05, Monkey Barrel 3 at Monkey Barrel Comedy, 5-29 August
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/pierre-novellie-okay-one-more-then-bedtime
