Zealous is too weak an adjective to describe Janeane Garofalo’s left-leaning liberalism, and it would be logical to think that—in the era of our great leader Obama—a comedian with such a pedigree would find the post-Bush world a little difficult to satirise. But with the newly disenfranchised and increasingly vocal Republicans firmly in her sights, the wild-eyed comedian has certainly found enough racist, sexist and homophobic Fox News quotes to fill her set.
Coming to the Fringe off the back of a performance at Suffolk’s Latitude Festival that—to use her own term—bombed, the 24 and West Wing star is no doubt a little sick of us reticent Brits already. Although in Edinburgh there are certainly enough laughs for her to remain on stage for the full hour, weak, slow material and a tendency to stray along blind-ending and unamusing tangents means that this poorly rehearsed show cannot be received well.
Ultimately Garofalo is overcome by the same sense of irrelevance that besets all American political comedians in the UK. British comedy having thankfully left the ragged and bloodied remains of Thatcher to compost many moons ago, the actress is left looking outmoded and sounding tired. More personal material about adolescent sexual misadventures and her love-hate relationship with alcoholism is promising, but is hurriedly crammed into the dying seconds of an over-running show. Billed as the highlight of the Gilded Balloon’s 2009 programme, questions must surely be asked about this troubled venue’s ability to attract the top comedians.
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