Homecomings are desperately important to artists on the make, and for a boy from Moffat it doesn’t get much bigger than coming home to headline at the Edinbugh International Conference Centre during the Fringe. The last time Danny Bhoy put on a Festival show, the critical mauling he suffered was somewhat akin to wandering through a bear reserve wearing a bacon waistcoat.
Bhoy has only just returned from nine long months touring the towns of the Western Australian dustbowl. There is therefore a palpable sense of occasion to this event, with the capacity home crowd appearing to hold genuine affection for their wayward son, and wishing him well on his return from exile.
They’re the lucky ones tonight; pliant and forgiving, they are immune to the disappointment that the few objective observers in the house must feel.
He’s a likeable fellow, Danny Bhoy; full ready wit and easy banter. He competes, however, for the dubious honour of laziest comic at the Fringe, with material featuring several appallingly executed cultural stereotypes and a handful of lukewarm stories featuring situational humour long past its sell-by date. Clearly without anything to say, he tries to cobble together an edifying message at the end full of pointlessness and pretentious delivery that seems like a parody of itself.
Bhoy has clearly been wounded by his previous encounters with the press, but offers little reason why he shouldn’t be devoured again. This is lowest-common-denominator comedy, and the local boy doesn’t deserve his legion of fans.
I was at the Danny Bhoy gig last night in Soho. I am normally a big fan however last night he was completely off form. Beginning the show by asking two audience members to leave for no reason. I suppose the audiences refusal to find such a ridiculous action funny perhaps set him off on the wrong foot.
He proceeded to stumble through the rest of his oerformance without his usual flair for timing etc.
Unfortunately, not one of his best at all. Not recommended.
Sam,
I was also at the gig you mention. I was sitting closer to the two that were ejected than anyone else in the audience. They kept f*cking talking for the first ten minutes of his act. Loudly. Noticeably. Obviously extremely drunk. He asked them twice to stop talking then asked them to leave. Then they wouldn't leave - even after employees of the theatre tried to remove them. Luckily an off-duty cop was in the audience. I'm surprised you (or anyone in the audience) still had any sympathy for the two girls at that point.
"no reason" indeed
-David