Rosco McClelland @ Monkey Barrel
A searching hour touching on mental health, roombas and crows from one of the Scottish scene’s brightest and best
Rosco McClelland’s had an excellent 12 months – a fantastic Fringe last year, crowned Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award winner at this year's Glasgow Comedy Awards, and winner of Best International Act at the New Zealand Comedy Festival. All impressive feats, and yet, he’s not a happy boy.
This is an hour of McClelland trying to make sense of his unhappiness, turning the camera on himself and on the wider state of the world through his unique and often surreal worldview. Petty arguments with his wife, getting his mum a roomba and his grudges against crows all feel light on the surface but the comic weaves them into the bigger picture, some more subtly than others.
When the darker stuff comes, and boy it comes, it’s like a bolt from the blue and punchlined with a full-room blackout. Other comics would baulk at delivering reveals like this, but McClelland’s brashness lends itself well to this method, popping the tension with a huge gag each time the lights go back up.
He’s unafraid to tackle big issues (sexual assault, Palestine Action, men’s mental health) and knocks them down with ease, even with his asides that the crowd are making him work particularly hard tonight. And despite his onstage vulnerability perhaps being one of the roots of his unhappiness (last year’s Sudden Death saw the comic discuss a serious medical problem), he continues to show that side of him, staring defiantly down the barrel whilst cutting through with gunslinger puns and talking about his speed as a kid.
Rosco McClelland is a real pro and any hour in his company is a guaranteed good time, especially this one where he sensitively balances the light and shade within.
Rosco McClelland: How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, Monkey Barrel (Cab Vol 1), run ended