Inga Latham On stage in Cape Town
In the Coffee Lounge in Cape Town, comedian Chris McEvoy is warming up with Sczhoid before the Grahamstown run of his one-man show, Bitter. After the three flights of stairs up to the Top Floor Theatre, McEvoy is lucky any of us still have breath with which to laugh at his jokes. His opening gambit includes a scathing line about our “I’ve just paid R20, this better be good” expectant looks. I’m tempted to heckle and ask whether this is his way of endearing himself to the press, but decide it’s too early and I haven’t had nearly enough to drink.
This is one thing McEvoy and I agree on – drink, and the more of it you imbibe the funnier you will find him. Just when I was thinking his material was composed entirely of bar humour, around the time of the interval, he surprised us by showing off with some psychobabble he must’ve picked up in Psychology 101 between hangovers.
He’s currently working on rewriting a famous psychology text he tells us, provocatively called I’m OK, You’re A Cunt. Readers Digest have printed a condensed version. As it is a family publication they had to remove all the expletives – the result is a haiku. If the words fuck and cunt did not exist, McEvoy might have some difficulty expressing himself. But between the expletives, slugs of beer and six or more cigarettes (I lost count eventually) that are his props, there is great comic material.
He runs the gamut of currently controversial topics, such as drugs, contraception and religion, and includes a slight bent towards paedophilia.
Despite his funny material, McEvoy’s performance lacks a certain polish in its delivery. Either he has chosen for his stage persona a vaguely alcoholic cynic, once bright and enthusiastic, but now disillusioned and past the bloom of his youth, or he has really bought the common misconception that the great unwashed who’ve made the big time don’t give a fuck about anything and are laughing at their stupid audience all the way to the bank.
In the world of performance, nine times out of 10 a wild, dishevelled image belies the most anal and precise of planning techniques, and is merely a way of manipulating the unsuspecting audience. For example, a band such as Nirvana might look grungy, but their performance is cleanly professional.
Closer to the subject of humour, Edina and Patsy of Absolutely Fabulous are constantly drunk, but always in control. McEvoy needs to rethink the way he juggles performance and intoxication. Sczhoid is funny in a crude, alcohol inspired way and I’m sure once Chris McEvoy has stood up in front of a few more audiences he’ll find something to do with his body and stop waiting for the audience to laugh between cracks.
If you are easily offended, Sczhoid is not a show you should book for in Grahamstown. Everyone else should take a beer in with them and support local comedy.
Chris McEvoy’s Bitter will be featured at this year’s Grahamstown festival