What a pleasure. What a lovely hour. But it’ll only garner three stars. ‘Be under no illusion,’ began Alexis, ‘this will not be five-star. Despite how good the beginning’s been…’ This show refreshingly addressed the elephant(s) in the room; reviews and reviewers. Currently it’s estimated anyone who’s lodged an e-mither address (I do confess) with the Fringe as a reviewer has well over 150 offers of free tickets in return for roughly 300 words and a star rating. The maxim ‘don’t read your press, weigh it,’ has never been more appropriate. And which reviewer’s going to murder a show by anyone who, however bad, has still put in a massive amount of time and effort to attend the Fringe, will depart with a small mountain of debt, showbiz ambitions in tatters? The fact that many of these reviews end up on obscure websites yet are added to posters, without verification, should be worrying. Alexis was – allegedly – once reviewed by the ‘Australia Times’. Fabulous, except the highfalutin gazette doesn’t exist.
Polemic over. That Alexis has 20+ years experience under his belt was clear by the way he went about his turn in front of a typically poor Sunday evening turnout. Quel surprise to learn he’s been working successfully as louche Frenchman Marcel Lucont for a fair while. We heard about him, Tasmania (its Mona Museum complete with daily poo feature), ADHD, his wife, his kids, a speed awareness course, New Zealand. It was pleasant, amusing, entertaining and when things threatened to drift four or five star, he revealed the card all comedians keep for emergencies: Banbury. Fair play, for there is not enough time left in our threatened planet’s existence to find anywhere more three star than Banbury.
This show’s a relief, not least because he bashes through some of the bollix of it all. Which should be worth four or five stars, but no-one wants to disappoint an artist, so…
Go to this, but one tip; sit central.
At La Belle Angele nightly at 18.30 until August 13th.
Reviewer: Roger Jacobs
Reviewed: 6th August 2023
North West End UK Rating: