I have to confess that outspoken American satirist Barry Crimmins is a new name to me, but he has a pretty impressive CV. He was a key figure in the Boston comedy movement in the eighties and more recently has become known for his campaigns against online child pornography - Crimmins was raped as a child. If you want more background fellow comic Bobcat Goldthwait made the documentary about him entitled Call Me Lucky.
Onstage he comes across as a cross between avuncular and furious as he stalks around the stage marshalling his thoughts. Crimmins called his first night in London the “experimental” night and it was clear that he was still finding a way to get his fury at the state of the world and America in particular across to an English audience. The audience could hear him loud and clear but at one point - maybe because of the lack of chuckles - he complained about the “Hendrix ghost” causing microphone feedback.
And while it wasn’t wall-to-wall laughs he was certainly worth listening to, with a sharp comic take on most subjects he landed on. Discussing the dominance of guns back home he said that the neighbours think he is the crazy one because he doesn’t own one. On the proliferation of stand-ups in New York he said there are now so many competing for work - 35,000 he claimed - that it feels like a refugee crisis. Maybe comedians should be doing benefits for comedians.
Crimmins’ worldview is pretty clear. He is very much an old school lefty. He would probably get on well with Jeremy Corbyn (who he slightly resembles) but is less keen on both Presidential candidates. Obviously he hates Trump in particular and has some good material there, but he also thinks Clinton is virtually a Republican too. And the two-candidate electoral system stinks as well.
This was not just a comedy gig, it was also a history lesson, with gags about Bush, Nixon, Kissinger and other figures from the past alongside more familiar observations about TV news coverage and people posting pictures of their breakfast coffee on Facebook. He certainly covered a lot of ground in various senses. I’ve never seen someone wander around the stage so much. He got so close to the wings a couple of times I feared he was going to meander into Leicester Square and continue his performance in the street.
His best moments really packed a punch though. He had a particularly strong and timeless anti-war routine, suggesting that if recruiting offices were at the top of veterans hospitals youngsters might be less inclined to sign up. And his riff on US healthcare v the NHS (Rob Delaney has made the same point) prompted the biggest cheer of the night. He might have been preaching to the choir but in the middle of this terrifying, mad Presidential campaign it was good to hear someone with an American accent speaking sense for a change.
Until October 1. Tickets here.
