Jamie Kilstein, Soho Theatre - review

Comedy that makes you think not split your seams but there are belly laughs too
P34 Jamie Kilstein
Rex Features
27 February 2013

America’s Jamie Kilstein looks like a geeky comedian from central casting, all glasses, T-shirt and tight trousers. You think you are going to hear offbeat yarns about relationships and pets. Think again. What you get is politically engaged humour, with a lonely cat anecdote mid-performance sticking out like a kitten in the Grand National.

Kilstein certainly does not settle for simple topics. How many comedians would open with a routine dissecting homophobia and follow it with a story about how they incurred violent threats after mentioning rape on television? The delivery is passionate, fast-paced and, when he uses notes for absolute precision, almost poetic.

This is largely comedy that makes you think rather than split your seams but there are belly laughs too. A particular highlight is his tale of sharing a Denver hotel with a cowboy convention. Kilstein paints such a vivid picture of the culture clash that one can almost smell the prejudice and stetsons.

Another smart riff recalls how his peers are replacing their social media pictures with shots of their new offspring. It now looks as if Kilstein has befriended umpteen babies, which can be awkward when acquaintances see his Facebook page. Elsewhere he has little time for agnostics: “Pick a side and start to lose friends like the rest of us.”

Some US references need clarifying but his nation-transcending story about adopting a moggy that turns out to be chubbier than expected shows that there is heart alongside the establishment-bashing rage. Kilstein might hate America’s fat cats but he clearly loves the plump pussy who lives with him.

Until February 23 (020 7478 0100, sohotheatre.com)

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