Jordan Brookes

It takes a really good comic to find big laughs in something. It takes a great comic to find big laughs in nothing. And that, more or less, is what Jordan Brookes does. It takes great skill to make an hour look this random, and yet keep hitting laughter buttons with precision.

There is a ridiculously funny vignette at the start starring Jordan and the micrphone stand in a … a onenight stand. After this he goes unplugged and we tumble through his attempts at selfimprovement and the zombie apocalypse, and he takes a moment to imagine what the show is going to be like.

Frankly, very few other than Brookes himself could imagine this show. He constantly interrupts himself with worries about people creeping up on him, his looks, and the visibility of his nipples. He is triggered by his audience, and creates a running gag with cod endings that pays off at the end of the hour in a way you really do have to experience. His mother provides another running gag which stalks the show threatening comedy horrors you know Brookes is perfectly capable of unleashing.

He ends with an uplifting, optimistic speech, the likes of which you will never have heard. And which you will not forget in a hurry. He is fond of a Freddo, is Jordan, and there is a stupidly funny sequence that ends with a melting giant Freddo.

Such is the expectation of Brookes’ work that, on the way out, the young guy behind me said to his friend “I think the melting Freddo was a metaphor for his stepfather”. I don’t. I think this year Jordan Brookes is just crazily, adorably funny. You should see him !

KATE COPSTICK

Until 25 August. Today 9:30pm.