Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Comedy review: Run, Deaf Boy, Run! : Scotsman.com
On an absolutely foul day Steve Day made my day with this joyful, heart-warming, funny, well crafted show.
It is, in the main part, the story of how and why he ran the London Marathon but turns out to be much, much more. Just to put us at our ease, to reassure us he is a proper comedian and not just a bloke who ran a certain number of miles (and 385 yards as he, much later in the hour points out), he tickles us into the narrative with a good five minutes of solid laughs. He covers the riots in London with some smart gags, does a chunk of material about how political being deaf can be and why he is only deaf with a small d and not Deaf with a capital D, and introduces us (metaphorically) to his scary Ghanaian ex-Olympic athlete wife.
The backstory to the marathon run involves a spongy toenail, piles and IBS, the training covers incredible shrinking shorts and the immediate run-up (as it were) features fear, an injured hip, the Birmingham canal network, a physio called Reg, and a family sized tub of Vaseline. Day's account of the race itself is an unadulterated delight. He should never have been able to attempt it, according to Reg (on account of the damaged hip), but he did. I am not going to tell you how well he did because the story is so beautifully told by the man himself I don't want to spoil it. But you can look forward to hearing about men crying and cheese sandwiches, shared pain and republicanism.
This is great storytelling and lovely comedy beautifully crafted by a truly engaging performer. There is even a sort of moral at the end and, being suffused in a happy Day-glow, I found myself nodding thoughtfully rather than being irritated as I normally would be at a messagey ending. Steve Day might, as he tells us, be rubbish at sign language, but with the spoken word he is a funny guy.
On an absolutely foul day Steve Day made my day with this joyful, heart-warming, funny, well crafted show.
It is, in the main part, the story of how and why he ran the London Marathon but turns out to be much, much more. Just to put us at our ease, to reassure us he is a proper comedian and not just a bloke who ran a certain number of miles (and 385 yards as he, much later in the hour points out), he tickles us into the narrative with a good five minutes of solid laughs. He covers the riots in London with some smart gags, does a chunk of material about how political being deaf can be and why he is only deaf with a small d and not Deaf with a capital D, and introduces us (metaphorically) to his scary Ghanaian ex-Olympic athlete wife.
The backstory to the marathon run involves a spongy toenail, piles and IBS, the training covers incredible shrinking shorts and the immediate run-up (as it were) features fear, an injured hip, the Birmingham canal network, a physio called Reg, and a family sized tub of Vaseline. Day's account of the race itself is an unadulterated delight. He should never have been able to attempt it, according to Reg (on account of the damaged hip), but he did. I am not going to tell you how well he did because the story is so beautifully told by the man himself I don't want to spoil it. But you can look forward to hearing about men crying and cheese sandwiches, shared pain and republicanism.
This is great storytelling and lovely comedy beautifully crafted by a truly engaging performer. There is even a sort of moral at the end and, being suffused in a happy Day-glow, I found myself nodding thoughtfully rather than being irritated as I normally would be at a messagey ending. Steve Day might, as he tells us, be rubbish at sign language, but with the spoken word he is a funny guy.