Comedy / Comedy
Review: James Acaster, 1532 Performing Arts Centre
James Acaster has catapulted himself into the limelight in 2018. Having worked his way up through the stand-up, radio and panel show circuits for the last five years, Acaster reached new heights earlier this year with his own Netflix miniseries, Repertoire, which received much critical acclaim and rave reviews from audiences. He also made the Sunday Times bestseller list with his debut book Classic Scrapes.
Having discovered such success relatively recently, you might be forgiven for thinking that Acaster was planning on taking a much-deserved break. Rigorous touring around the country’s most famous comedy venues and festivals is no doubt a tiring job but maybe one that doesn’t pay all that well because mere months after the height of the festival season, Acaster is once again travelling up and down the country testing out new material.
After some frankly hit and miss sets from the two support comedians, Acaster takes the stage in typical goofy fashion. Dressed like a student Geography teacher from 2011, he launches straight in to the type of hilarious, rambling but consistently easy to follow ranting that he opens most of his sets with.
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Anyone who had any doubts about his new material quickly forgets them. Each line is some form of punchline, every lanky uncomfortable movement a noticeable stage device and every story is both equally relatable and ridiculous.
From the last awkward and fraught days of a dying relationship to being too jetlagged to compete on Bake Off, Acaster weaves together bizarre narratives out of seemingly anything. The whole hour-long set is taken up by just two stories which are miles apart from each other, yet which intertwine perfectly to the backdrop of James’s wacky demeanour.
Undoubtedly, British comedy has been going through a transition period for the last decade. The need for a comic to be more cautious of what they say is obvious for everyone to see. James Acaster is arguably the first stand-up in ages who manages to successfully work around these issues. He comes across as a genuinely lovely guy and a comedian that wouldn’t suit any kind of offensive joke (something he actually addresses during the performance).
He’s young, silly and undeniably endearing. It’s also entirely believable that he continuously gets himself into these ridiculous situations, and would do so whether he were a professional funny man or not.
In short, James Acaster is the type of comic who can offer something to anyone. His new material is easily as funny as his older stuff, which leads us to believe that he will be a figure in British comedy for many years to come.
James Acaster performed at 1532 Performing Arts Centre on Tuesday, December 18. For forthcoming shows at the venue, visit 1532bristol.co.uk/whats-on
Read more: Best of Bristol 2018: Comedy
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