Chaotic is a word that gets thrown around, but this hour is the very definition of it. Tony comes out dressed as a pirate for no reason. He also has a falconry glove for some other reason. ‘Reviewers either give me one-star or five-star reviews’ he says, and I can see why.
He tells us that he doesn’t know where his thoughts will lead him and whether that’s true or not it certainly seems that way. For the most part nothing is narratively driven and comes across as completely unstructured.
Tony bounces across the stage commenting on the venue’s medieval smell (anyone who has been to Hive will know exactly what he means). He thanks the dedicated following who return to his shows and enjoys the bewilderment of newcomers.
He is frantic, quirky and sometimes hard to keep up with. He’s also very meta. He is constantly acknowledging the absurdity of his material and also counting the ‘lulls’.
There is some traditional stand-up material which all gets big laughs from the audience. Talking through his ’23 and me’ results, he laments the fact he traces his ancestry to various types of Irish – nothing exotic.
He jokes about how every other comedian’s material is about mental health and riffs instead about being a Nosferatu fan.
Despite the apparently unstructured nature of the hour there are some clever callbacks in the wrap up.
I enjoy the hour. There are some lulls – but I don’t know if I would’ve noticed them if Tony didn’t point them out.
Tony Law: Law and DisOrganizeder, Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Hive) (Hive 1), Until Aug 13
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/tony-law-law-and-disorganizeder
