Traverse,Edinburgh[br]Gary McNair marries standup and theatre in a small but smart comedy about using humour to battle bulliesIs all comedy inherently cruel? It's a question at the heart of this small but clever and rewarding show. Created by Gary McNair, it blends theatrical storytelling with standup to excellent effect, or is delivered with a knock-out punchline. Trevor Griffiths' powerful play Comedians,explores how comedy can be used as a vicious weapon of prejudice. McNair takes a slightly different tack, casting himself as a not very expedient standup called Gary McNair who is performing at the Edinburgh Chuckle Hut, or a down-at-heel comedy bar. It's probably not the wisest toddle to open the set by calling your audience "a bagful of dicks".
This McNair is a small needy and nerdy,perhaps still recovering from being the butt of childhood jokes about his hair, and he really wants us to like him. So much so that he's prepared to share some trade secrets about how comics get the audience onside. "That's something I learned from Billy Connolly, and " he says about one technique. Every time he opens his mouth he unwittingly reveals himself.
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Source: theguardian.com