DEMENTIA ISN’T a laughing matter. They’re the first words in Steve’s Fringe programme entry and you know he desperately wants to prove otherwise.
Unfortunately he then spends an hour demonstrating the opposite.
There is a funny show to be written about dementia, sadly this simply isn’t it.
Steve’s desire to laugh in the face of adversity – both his parents had dementia, both died during Covid and the pandemic contributed to a difficult birth for his child – is abundantly apparent but he misses the mark throughout.
He’s obviously spent a long time crafting and honing what is an overwhelmingly personal show but the harsh truth is that it’s just not funny.
Punchline after punchline hits the floor with a dull thud, and they’re mostly as laboured as the gag that forms the show’s title. Signposting and explaining them only makes things worse.
To be fair, the audience for the performance I saw was too small for any comedic atmosphere or momentum to build but I’m not sure a full house would help.
The real pity is that he makes some bloody good points. As he says, there were upsides to his parents’ dementia – he had a better relationship with his dad who turned from introvert to extrovert and they became more mates than relatives, he is making sure he has a good relationship with his own son and he’s looking after himself better “just in case”.
Also, he’s quite right that Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease because we don’t get to choose what memories we lose, and that with dementia numbers increasing, we need to normalise those affected soiling themselves and needing nappies.
It’s just that the comedy surrounding these points is hamfisted and some of the more risqué stuff poorly-judged and cringeworthy, forming an uncomfortable juxtaposition with the rest of the subject matter.
Steve also doesn’t help himself by mentioning a couple of things – the Ocean Test and being an INTJ – that I and I suspect many others simply aren’t familiar with.
In the unlikely event I get to choose what memories to lose, this show will be one of them.
Steve N. Allen is at the Gilded Balloon Teviot Billiard Room at 9pm. For tickets visit https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/steve-n-allen-alzheimer-s-i-can-t-even-remember-how-to-spell-it
