A star of comedy shows such as Jam, Big Train, and Brass Eye, Kevin Eldon is clearly showing the benefit of his comedy education in his breakthrough stand-up act. The name, “Titting About” is oddly apt, though not in a negative way.
Eldon's act comprises character-based sections, songs, and a sort of deconstruction of traditional stand-up, varying between them all in a very natural way, giving the impression of a comic doing whatever it comes into his head to do.
The character sections are remarkably well fleshed out, with highpoints including a beautifully cringe-worthy poet, a bizarre stream-of-consciousness “fictional Yorkshireman”, and a section performed entirely in French.
Alongside these Eldon often goes off on surreal tangents and obsessive rants, playing on the idea of a neurotic comedian.
The songs he plays are well-crafted, if not all winners. The weaker points are easily balanced out by such passages as a brutally savage satire on “observational comedy”, rants about linguistics or riffing on the nature of performance itself. Eldon’s stand-up show is a gloriously surreal journey, interspersed with bouts of highly entertaining insanity.
For anyone who enjoys the comedy of Bill Bailey, and Chris Morris, if this is Kevin Eldon merely titting about, then we can safely expect great things from him in the future.
Times
13-15, 17-22, 24-29 August, 2.30pm
Ticket prices
£6 (conc)-£8