Rob Spence review - SkinnyFest 1

Article by Ryan Van Winkle | 14 Aug 2006
If you walked past Spence doing his routine on the High Street you would think, "It's a mime," and quietly sneak past. Or, for a while, you might indulge your insane and guilty pleasure, watch him through eight minutes of monkey faces and fake running, drop a coin in his hat and move on. The problem with his Pleasance show, of course, is that you cannot leave. While Spence may indeed be a great "physical comedian", as the flyer suggests, he has padded 20 minutes of High Street aping into 60 minutes of, well, a mime with a few jokes. The goal of deconstructing human behaviour into skits falls short of being hilariously insightful and, instead, is banal observational humour with a lot of sweating. Spence has decided to illustrate what guys look like when they drink, lift weights, watch football, and so on. Apparently, all this is very popular in Switzerland. Which says just about enough.
Rob Spence - Body Language, Pleasance Courtyard, until August 28 (not 15), 19:30, £11/£10 (£9.50/£8.50).