2011 Edinburgh Fringe
Matt Green review
"Our comedian has just been stung!" exclaims a slightly perturbed Pleasance usher, to her colleagues, seconds before curtain-up. Indeed, it turns out that a vindictive wasp attacked Matt Green under the armpit just as he was wandering to the venue, and thus there's an added frisson to tonight's proceedings: will he survive the hour?
It's quite an apt occurrence actually, as Green's show is all about distractions, from smartphones and the internet to poisoned left arms which become increasingly painful as the show progresses but, hey, give everyone else in the room a good laugh. "You can't die from wasp stings can you?" enquires Green. "Yes!" replies pretty much everyone, with a little too much relish.
Sting aside, it's a well-judged hour, if a little light on big laughs. This may partly be a circumstantial delivery issue rather than problems with the material - a more wobbly voice than usual would be entirely understandable - but then the frequent gags about his sexual prowess are generally a bit cringe-inducing, given that he doesn't look old enough to vote. That said, the long shag-related routine at the, er, climax is the only substantial anecdote in the show, and a few more would have added useful weight.
If you dimly recognise Green but can't work out why, it's probably because he starred in an omnipresent breakfast cereal ad last year, and there's a nice collective lightbulb moment when he reveals which one. There's a similarly universal shudder when he admits how much his sole prop cost. Clue: it's 2012 Olympics related and - given that this is the moment where he and the audience truly bond - worth every penny, it turns out.
For a comic, getting stung on the arm and in the pocket is today's pain, tomorrow's punchline.
Matt Green: Too Much Information listing
