Review – Rhod Gilbert and the Cat That Looked Like Nicholas Lyndhurst, Pleasance Courtyard

– August 31, 2009Posted in: comedy, edinburgh, review

Rhod Gilbert
It won’t come as a surprise to Rhod Gilbert afficionados (Gilbertados, as they are known) that it hasn’t been a good year for the comic. After his 08 Fringe show, he was accused by the critics of focusing on daily annoyances at the expense of weighty issues (“The Scotsman said my material was ‘unremittingly trivial’. Pot fucking kettle, Scotsman. I’m not the one devoting 48 pages to Scotland every day.”); his mother and girlfriend seemingly agreed with the critics; there’s also something about a cat; and it doesn’t seem that he’s mastered the science behind duvet design yet either.

Gilbert is a superbly funny performer: his ability to express the frustrations of daily life are second to none and, as far as this critic is concerned at least, I couldn’t care less that his material doesn’t major on Proportional Representation or the Suez Crisis.

I didn’t love the set wholeheartedly: after a while his tone (which runs the gamut from indignant right the way to righteous indignation) can become wearing and the attempt to wrap the set into one coherent motif (the business around the cat) feels forced. But despite these minor complaints Gilbert comes across as likeable, self-deprecating, modest and extremely funny.

Tags: , ,