Craig Hill: Blown By a Fan

By far the funniest moment in Craig Hill's 'Blown By a Fan' is when he first bounds on to the stage, accompanied by Lady Gaga's Born This Way. He performs a camp dance, his white kilt, shirt and teeth reflecting light so strongly that spectators are literally dazzled. There's almost no comic invention at work here, but the joy on Hill's face, not to mention throughout the audience, is overpowering.

Unfortunately, it's also completely at odds with the rest of the show. Hill sees human beings only in terms of sexuality and class. The many audience interactions that comprise the show then, are often deeply unpleasant, or else plainly lazy. He cattily observes that “Linda sounds like a cleaner's name,” before accusing another punter of being poor on the grounds that he dislikes her shoes. Frequently, the comic can't even force himself to construct a semblance of a joke and instead makes statements with the words 'dot com' affixed at the end. In short, he spends much of the hour appearing to be witless and unpleasant. Though he generates laughter from a rabid audience throughout the show, he consistently fails to build on it, and so the night ends up as little more than a series of indistinct dialogues. Respite comes during the big finale as Hill launches into a rap about how he's gay, which, as he's been reminding us for the past 10 years, he definitely is, but to no great comic effect.