REGINALD D HUNTER | LIVE REVIEW
St David’s Hall, Sat 5 Nov
From the moment that Reginald D Hunter strides onto stage, to a huge round of applause, he has the audience eating out of his hands. Launching into a long section about race, language and the nature of offence, he navigates these tricky subjects with an ease which proves that he is one of the most original, thoughtful and charismatic comics in the UK at present. Never afraid of pausing either for effect or for thought, Hunter sometimes stops in the middle of a routine, as if to gather his thoughts, before delivering the punchline. His routine is not structured around traditional set-up/punchline style gags, but rather he rambles around topics and teases the humour out here and there.
At the end of the set Hunter tells a joke that is so distasteful that audible gasps of disbelief can be heard intermingled with the nervous titters and the belly laughs of those audience members who appear to find the joke funny. Anyone who has read an interview with Hunter, or heard him speak, knows that he considers offence to be in the mind of the beholder, and that no subject should be taboo for the truly fearless comedian. While this is an admirable stance with regards to free speech, with his parting shot Hunter commits the very worst sin for a comedian: the joke is simply not funny. Whether he told the joke simply as an act of provocation, or whether he felt it was a worthy joke for someone of his considerable comedic talents, the effect is to mar what was otherwise one of the finest hours of stand-up comedy I have seen.
words: DAVID GRIFFITHS
photo: IDIL SUKAN
