The Secret Reviewer #32: One Corpse Too Many
Every month our clandestine critic reveals the murky truths behind that infamous trade, and live comedy generally. This month: Shouldn't we be the ones laughing?
It's a barb often levelled at critics, that secretly we hate comedy and find laughter a bit lowbrow. And this piece probably won't help, as I'm ranting about laughing itself. Not from audiences - good lord, no - but the increasingly long stretches of screen and stage time devoted to supposed entertainers just guffawing at each other, nowadays. When did that become a thing?
Actually, on stage, scripted corpsing has long been part of the show, it turns out. I had a sobering moment a few years ago after gently berating a famous actor about the time I'd seen him corpse twice, at the same supposed cock-up, in two separate performances. Clearly, it was done on purpose; to which the actor responded:
"Of course it...
