'Jimeoin: Something Smells Funny' Review
Published: Tuesday 2nd November 2010
Jay Richardson reviews the latest show from stand-up comedian Jimeoin...
After his recent appearance on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, the opportunity seems ripe for Australia-based Jimeoin to turn his cult appeal into a mainstream following. Yet the impish Northern Irishman, owner of perhaps the most talented eyebrows and nuanced facial expressions in stand-up, seemed to lack conviction this evening.
A surprisingly unresponsive Friday night crowd didn't help. But then Jimeoin lost faith in himself early, abandoning a trademark skit on exactly where in the ether we retain the various bits of our memory during the arrival of none-too-disruptive latecomers. To compound this, he then committed the mistake of referring to the doomed routine later in the gig. When he's coasting, a sequence in which he imagines the audience thinking "this is rubbish, he's talking shit" feels like the knowing false modesty of an assured act. Tonight, it unnecessarily introduced the idea into people's minds.
Jimeoin talks plenty of whimsical nonsense, with a great eye for uncovering the sublime in the mundane. The notion that cheese cuts at uniform speed, regardless of which knife or how much force is applied, is explored with typically casual brilliance. His eye for human detail and exceptional ability to convey psychological eccentricities and universal quirks make him a gifted observational wit. The simple act of telling a story at a party or driving home afterwards with his wife become mini soap operas in which the melodrama is wryly encapsulated in a choice retort or darting glance. Blessed with a wonderfully mellifluous voice and a range of gurning looks, he's unusually loveable too, constantly given to dancing goofily or self-deprecatingly critiquing his marriage.
Interspersed between such cosy routines, a stock observation on kettles and biscuits in hotel rooms can prompt a more daring scenario in which he toys with perceptions of a lonely life touring. Every successive line and the roguish glint in his eye manipulate the degrees of condemnation and laughter at his suggested misogyny. A treat to see played out, you anticipate the development of such set-pieces with relish the moment they begin.
Nevertheless, it scarcely seems surprising that given the length of his career and broad appeal, his subject matter begins to feel overly familiar, revisiting terrain that Jimeoin himself had seemed to move beyond in previous shows. Some distance from being a career crisis, especially with his profile as high as ever, at least in the UK, this occasional uncertainty might yet reflect a degree of insecurity about his ongoing approach.
Regardless, playing the guitar affords another six strings to his repertoire and he nicely subverts the conventions of pop music with a love song for a long term couple. Any show from a brain as spry as Jimeoin's, coupled with such easy charm and accomplished physicality will always entertain. Something Smells Funny just doesn't quite find him at the top of his game.
Tron Theatre, Glasgow, 29th October 2010
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