Live comedy: Paul Foot – “Dissolve”
Huntingdon Hall, Worcester – 27th September 2024
When I informed my partner we were meeting someone in the pub before the show, the expression was one of… “You know I don’t like spontaneous change.” Let’s be honest who does? And no one understands this more than “one of the world’s comedians” Paul Foot.
Both Paul Foot’s appearance and delivery are unique. Still, a change is as good as a vest, in the world of Foot and the connoisseurs who come to dine-out on his comedy. His staccato delivery accompanied by blue work overalls – that were too short – and gold shoes were as striking as the subjects offered on his comedic buffet. (“See Paul, a metaphor, a bloody metaphor, even in the review!”)
For a grown man to come out and shout into the faces of his audience as an introduction for his show is both brave and memorable. Moreover, the laughter and atmosphere rose like an enthusiastic soufflé made with the cleanest of bowls.
The worthy Huntingdon Hall is ideal for these comedy events. Intimate enough so you feel a part of the show and large enough to turn these nights of hilarity into genuine communal events.
At the core of Foot’s show Dissolve is the life changing event he experienced on a road just outside of Lancaster (sic). The near-30 year lead up to the event allowed for moments of gargantuan pathos in the show. Furthermore, moments of truly black humour and hysterical asides confirmed nothing is funnier than life or people. When confronted with the reality of Foot’s debilitating and all-consuming depression, “Jane” offered the sage advice…“you could go for a run?” “Jane,” then doubled down on the omnipotent advice by proffering; one of her friends “bought a bolt-hole in Tuscany.” Irony was never far away on the evening in question.
Foot proclaimed at one point his call for change in society was a “revolution”. With his comedic manifesto explored in real time it was obvious Foot had thought about his policies – which is more than some. Still the comedian insisted that some changes didn’t have to be made and declared we should keep…“racism, Piers Morgan and golf.”
The self-aware clown saved some of his more acerbic observations for religion. The lead- up to the far from throwaway line about right-wing Christians insisting we still use fossil fuel and yet not believe in fossils was delivered with the timing of back-bencher resigning.
You must resign yourself to the simple fact: a crowd clapping and cheering when you stop to take a drink of water is clearly won over. The act of drinking from a glass with two hands was both childlike and silly.
As we sat in our usual pub on the Saturday night, unable to change our habits, my partner declared: “I have no idea how you are going to review last night.”
Yes, silliness threaded its way through the whole night. Yes, pathos brought an intense silence at times. However, at no point did Paul Foot lose sight of the need to make his connoisseurs of comedy laugh. And laugh they did, for I would not con-you-sir, for this was A la-carte comedy for those with a discerning palate. Too salty for some perhaps but in an age when you can’t even call someone “a bum-boy-bender who takes it up the arse,” without someone taking offence; it is clear some changes had to be made and long may they continue.
By: The Swilgate Scuttler
PS.
“The truncated utilitarian clothing, gold lame shoes of indeterminate style and origin instilled in the audience a sense of a contemporary clown.” A Joseph “Here we are again” Grimaldi for the 21st century if you will. Or have I put my foot in it?