With Words, Paul Foot brings his trademark style of rambling genius back to Australia. Taking in subjects ranging from dull garden parties to whether men really like beer, Foot gives the impression of chaotic intelligence, or is it really intelligent chaos?
Foot is, as always, ‘dressed from the past’ in varying shades of white, cream and beige. His outmoded suit pants and shirt, leather jacket and shiny shoes are all strangely offset by a loud tie and socks. And all this is before you even get to the hair. To simply describe Foot’s doo as a mullet is not to convey the full effect of its alien majesty. This appearance, complete with his overstuffed document satchel, has you rocking back on your heels before he even opens his mouth.
When he does, it’s not stand-up as you know it. Foot opens with a quick set of parameters for the show. He says he doesn’t want the audience to experience any unnecessary surprises so he explains what’s coming: some of the key topics, that there’ll be a particular joke in a certain number of minutes, and that the show will be punctuated by what he likes to call ‘disturbances’ (isolated thoughts or stories).
While this all has the appearance of a nervous shambles, Foot is actually skilfully warming the audience up and acclimatising them to his singular style. He jitters about looking uncertain and assuming awkward stances. He talks aloud as he thinks through decisions about the show: will he do a ‘disturbance’ earlier than planned; is the audience ready for that? This onstage persona is quite unsettling but it is also perfected so as to be extremely funny.
Style is what makes Paul Foot exceptional but he doesn’t rely on just that. The ideas and theories he covers seem at first to be just an unstructured stream of consciousness. There are lots of clever lines but about half of them turn into a tangential discussion about something new. Foot’s onstage kinetic antics are mirrored perfectly in the shifting kaleidoscope of his conversation. But then he starts to pull all these elements together. He combines concepts from several apparently throw-away tangents and uses them to pull off big gags, and bigger laughs. Either he is the luckiest shambler alive or this is the best planned show of the festival.
Whatever the case, Foot is a tremendously talented performer. He occasionally grins sideways at the audience as a particularly long-burn joke pays off. And he savages a heckler in the politest way I’ve ever seen. These flashes reveal the professional skill behind the frenetic exterior.
Plenty of comedians are funny and clever. They amusingly repeat their own version of the old standards asking ‘what’s up with technology’ or pointing out the difference between men and women. They’re good and some of them are great, but they’re also familiar. Paul Foot is funny and clever in a way entirely his own.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Words
By Paul Foot
Adelaide Fringe
8 March
Hi Fi Bar, Swanston St
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
www.comedyfestival.com.au
27 March – 20 April
