Monday, 16 July 2018

Show 27: Joseph Morpurgo: Hammerhead


I think I’ve seen over 250 comedy shows in my lifetime, and Morpurgo’s 2015 ‘Soothing Sounds for Baby’ remains my very favourite. Having taken an absence at Edinburgh 2016, he returned in 2017 with a new hour of silly madness.

In Hammerhead, Morpurgo plays a ‘brilliant’ actor who has just performed a self-penned version of Frankenstein where he has played all 85 characters in 12 different languages and is now offering a Q&A session.

What ensures is an hour of packed power-point based gags and a skilful subversion of the post-show Q&A  format – we slowly learn that this neurotic, arrogant character and the show is propped up with short-cuts and bizarre sponsorships. It’s full of clever, unsuspected call-backs and genius. It didn’t have the same warmth as ‘Soothing Sounds for Baby’ but it had all the panache and carefully thought-out gags. Tremendous hour of borderline-chaotic madness.


Score: 8/10
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard

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