REVIEW: DAVID BADDIEL - MY FAMILY, NOT THE SITCOM
5 out of 5 stars
Trying to find the laughter in the darkness and the irony of it all, join David Baddiel for a wild ride of leg slapping humour as he recounts all of the eccentricities, funny stories and uniquenesses of his parents lives through stand up comedy.
The show centres on his family and all the ways they were not perfect, from his mum heckling him at every one of his shows, and trying to steal the spotlight, to his dads excessive swearing and inability to see his wife’s affair, right before his eyes, being typically or not typically Jewish, and how his childhood was unique with all of these things going on.
With central themes of sex, ageing, dementia, and things being not quite PC, this is not a show mocking the past, it is one that deeply celebrates his parents lives, in a manner that left my throat sore from roaring with laughter. Prepare for heavy swearing – the c bombs were real, and often, and well deserved – and to be challenged on what is offensive, what do we and what does he get to be offended by, and jokes that make you groan, gasp in shock and chuckle in embarrassment, but nothing is in poor taste or handled disrespectfully. Baddiel and his projector display evidence of these outlandish tales, as well as how he tests his jokes on Twitter and how he feeds the trolls and enters online arguments. He uses social media to set up the show in the context of taking offense, the society of politically correct culture, and what does and doesn’t cross the line in comedy.
4 cats, 2 kids, 3 brothers and 2 eccentric parents haven’t “damaged” (correct use of inverted commas, which is a key sticking point across the show for the grammar fanatic) Baddiel at all: he thinks its what has made him funny. Baddiel is a charismatic narrator of these tales, both humbled and humiliated by these stories but reiterates constantly that his mother had no shame in regards to her affair, in fact she was proud of it: in this same regard, Baddiel has no shame in these stories he is sharing, only amused pride. His mother once proudly joked on one of Baddiel’s television shows that all of his brothers might not be his father’s children (with her husband in the audience, completely oblivious), and suggested that this wasn’t a bad thing, but that she had had a good life, a life well lived.
As a fundamentally atheist, yet also Jewish, expect many comparisons about what it is to be a ‘typical Jew’ and to be a ‘Typical Jewish Mother/Father’. Comparable to his mother’s affair, Baddiel delves into his father’s aggressive dementia, a form called Pick’s Disease, which really turned the volume up on all of his swearing, grumpiness, and inappropriate behaviours, which Baddiel has had to apologise for countless times, while quietly thinking to himself ‘This was how he always ways’. There are some rare somber moments, in reflection in his early career where there were moments where his father was proud of him, that he has completely forgotten, and the worry that he may one day inherit dementia too, however this is much more making fun of the British media when they invented fake news about his dementia concerns during one of his children’s book tours.
‘Truth does not conform to appropriate’ he proclaims, in a show that is 5 star British humour at it’s best. He fondly thinks that his mum would have loved this, because she is the star of his show, and he asked the audience to raise a glass to his golf and sex obsessed dear mother. Go and raise a glass to your own families and their funny quirks, and enjoy the on going discussion that Baddiel has started, about celebrating our families and not forgetting the uniqueness of those who have passed away.
This show is not to be missed on his first Australian tour – with one night only complete in Brisbane, your next opportunities to catch this magical evening of reflective comedy is in Sydney on September 14 and 15, Perth on September 17 and in Melbourne September 21 and 22.
Tickets and more info: www.frontiercomedy.com/davidbaddiel
SAT 15 SEPTEMBER SYDNEY SEYMOUR CENTRE
MON 17 SEPTEMBER PERTH OCTAGON THEATRE
FRI 21 SEPTEMBER MELBOURNE ALEX THEATRE
SAT 22 SEPTEMBER MELBOURNE ALEX THEATRE
This review first appeared at http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/david-baddiel-my-family-not-the-sitcom/ on 14 September 2018.
