Devilishly clever comedy of recognition
COMEDY JAMES ACASTER: RECOGNISE PLEASANCE COURTYARD (VENUE 33)
FAST becoming one of the most consistent performers at the Fringe, James Acaster’s Recognise is another superb hour of understatedly bold, intricately crafted stand-up.
Spun out of a gloriously unnecessary feud over a banana, he reveals his secret other life, an unlikely, dangerous vocation utterly at odds with his usually placid demeanour. The cracks have long been appearing though, not least in his marriage, and he amusingly conveys the impression of a man clinging to his cover-story by his fingernails, his whole comedy career a ludicrously contrived sham.
The attention to detail is stunning, from the lean muscularity of the script, with tremendous and surprising gags simultaneously serving as plot progression, to the panache with which he draws all the disparate threads together, reverse-engineering a succession of pinpoint deployed callbacks.
Some might find the delivery too mannered, or his endeavours lacking soul in favour of clever-clever showboating. But I’d argue that there’s a poetic grace and furious intellectual ambition radiating from this hour. Besides, you can find those other qualities elsewhere at the festival – Acaster is a one-off.
A further impressive quality is that he gives a lie to the notion that you can’t have an immaculate, neatly woven, satisfying Fringe show without five-minute routines that can be extracted and can stand alone in a club set or on a TV showcase.
His observations on conga etiquette are exquisite and he references everything from Pythagoras to The Wire through his wide-ranging cultural correspondences.
This might not be, as he affects, a journey into the dark heart of a complex and multi-layered individual. But it is a consummate effort from a hugely talented writer and performer. And who knows, maybe, just maybe, he’s telling the truth.
Until 24 August. Today 8pm.