Andrew O'Neill: Geburah
O'Neill's comedy is notoriously hard to pin down, harder still to categorise - a unique and uncompromising voice that is thoroughly entertaining, but also thought-provoking and mind-expanding in a way that is ultimately far more nourishing than a straightforward chuckle.
Alexis Dubus Photography
Geburah is apparantly the fifth sephirah in the kabbalistic Tree of Life, information that has frankly left me none the wiser, but according to Andrew O’Neill it's got something to do with Gods (as in Mars, Thor etc) a theme that runs - very loosely it has to be said - through their latest show. It's a show that's far more to do with the iniquity of property ownership and the benefits of regicide but I guess as a title that was never going to fly.
O'Neill's comedy is notoriously hard to pin down, harder still to categorise. There are moments of utter lunacy - just ask Frank Miller – which are then followed by a hand break turn and a lecture on the pernicious propaganda of politics with nary a laugh in sight. A heavy debt, it seems to me, is owed to Simon Munnery, juxtaposing the absurd with the profound, the repeated call backs and the deconstruction of the comic form. Shades too of Stewart Lee in the shaggy dog tale that delivered a big reveal. What sets O'Neill apart from Munnery and Lee, and from just about everyone else for that matter, is a belief in magick, which appears completely sincere, and which has previously been the focus of proceedings. I confess to being a little disappointed it was largely absent here, as was the musical prowess so ably demonstrated in the sublime History of Heavy Metal, but was nonetheless thoroughly engaged by the arguments presented, which demonstrating a humanity and empathy that previous shows have arguably shied away from.
When not talking a load of balls (fifty, I think he said, or was it twenty?) O'Neill instead directed what is obviously a sizable intellect towards the root injustices that bedevil this country, with a relentless attack on landlords and royalty, propaganda and oppression. Despite fretting over being too preachy, the theorising was so erudite it sometimes felt like the jokes were getting in the way. Insistent that this wasn’t a conspiracy theory, a grand plan of oppression of the masses was laid out, interspersed with a healthy whack on the bass drum signalling affection for Whitney Houston. And, yes, that was as weird as it sounds. My own view is that rather too much credit was given to the ruling classes, who seem to me to be not nearly clever enough to oppress through design rather than simply through default, but the arguments presented were both persuasive and articulate, rooted in knowledge rather than instinct. Private property ownership, the outlawing of squatting, Russian oligarchs, PR guru Edward Bernays, and Richard Madeley’s penis, all took their place in a world view succinctly described as Jackbootanory.
Norwich was the first night of the tour, and not every joke landed. It left me wondering if some flab has crept into the highly regarded one hour outing at Edinburgh. That said, there were also times when things felt a little rushed. On more than one occasion I didn't laugh, but only because I straightforwardly didn't catch what had been said. A curiously reticent audience seemed to have little appetite for joining in the closing sing along, which fell a little flat as a consequence, and that was a pity. What should have been a grand, guitar wielding finale, extoling the execution of Charles – who will always be a Prince to O’Neill – was obviously just a bit of fun, but not something folk seemed inclined to embrace. Perhaps we all live just a bit too close to Sandringham.
Such things are minor quibbles and will, I imagine, be ironed out as the tour continues. In any event O'Neill is such personable good company that belly laughs were quite low down my wish list. In a nutshell, I’ve laughed more at comics I’ve liked less. Far more important was bearing witness to a unique and uncompromising voice - one that is thoroughly entertaining, but also thought-provoking and mind-expanding in a way that is ultimately far more nourishing than a straightforward chuckle.
