Crazy hair, controversial opinions. No, not Russell Brand, but Reginald D Hunter. The soft-spoken American hit the front pages earlier this year for using the word "nigger" during a set at the PFA's annual dinner. As Hunter said onstage at the Fairfield Halls last week, it's simply a word he uses. He is certainly an uncompromising figure, not prepared to dilute his language for fear of offending people. His current tour addresses the issue and sort of successfully puts it to bed as you can read in my review below, originally published here. The trouble is that no sooner has he extricated himself from one problem than another one pops up. This week a woman accused him of misogyny on Facebook and another storm may be brewing. And I have to say that as an unreconstructed male feminist I often feel uncomfortable about the way Hunter talks about women. His gag mentioning rape was clever, but it was still a gag that mentioned rape, and the less of those there are in comedy the happier I would be. But anyway, go and see Hunter for yourself and make your own mind up. He is, as they say, never less than interesting.
Review: Reginald D Hunter, Fairfield Halls
Earlier this year Reginald D Hunter became embroiled in a kerfuffle over using the N-word during a performance at the Professional Footballers’ Association dinner. Pundits cried foul but the furore has pepped up Hunter’s set. The controversy inspires the strong opening to his current show, which kicks the incident into a wider context.
The charismatic, UK-based American gently explains that life is full of such “delusions” — gaps between what is said and how things are interpreted. He did use the term but it was the press that caused the issue. The PFA gig “went very well. Until the next day.” He was not trying to reclaim the word for the black community as some argued either, “because I don’t think we invented it.”
Tackling this topic makes for thrillingly thoughtful comedy. Much of the show keeps the high standard up as he reflects on Oscar Pistorius, guns, anti-Semitism, his family, and, most contentiously, his attitude to women, which he illustrates with uncomfortably frank anecdotes.
It is the last area that was the trickiest to negotiate and his attempt to be clever resulted in an own goal. Hunter is not always side-splittingly funny but is always compelling. Like Russell Brand but with less talk of beards and revolution, this is comedy that makes you think about the world as well as giggle.
Reginald D Hunter is currently on tour. Details here.
