Arts > Comedy

Rob Newman @ Norwich Playhouse

28/11/15

Rob Newman, star of the Mary Whitehouse Experience and Newman & Baddiel in the early nineties, literally creating the genre of rock star comedians by selling out Wembley Arena, has come to the Playhouse in Norwich. To talk about brains, evolution and play the ukulele.Twenty years ago this dude was gold. In the gap between indie and Nirvana there was a gasp of comedy air, Vic and Bob, MWE and The Fast Show, a taste of intelligence and fun in our nightlife. This period has been overshadowed by Oasis vs Blur and Nirvana killing metal - history, but the main players are still omnipresent culturally. Except Robert Newman.Since then, Rob has had an epiphany on all aspects of life, the universe and everything. He is a comedian like no other, and my mind felt like it was put through a mangle made from a medical thesaurus and a contemporary manual on neurological theory. No doubt many of the audience were waiting for the big hitting catchphrases like 'That's you, that is', but instead we learn about Darwin's terracotta tree frog through illuminated headwear. The crowd were laughing in the first section, but in fits and starts, as that's how jokes were being dropped. At the interval, people filed out scratching heads and looking for a pint.Seconds out, round two. Almost immediately a change was felt in the room, and the fluidity missing from the first section was injected. We saw a more focused performer and a crowd with realigned expectations. Laughs came more regularly in the first half of this period, but the shtick was always science. Not the easiest of material. The ukulele playing provided a surprising interlude of vaudeville, but audience participation attempt fell flat, maybe due to Norwich having a notoriously shy crowd. Awks. This show was based largely on the recent Radio 4 series on evolution and I had already heard a considerable amount of the material. Those parts suffered live as a lot of us had clearly laughed along in the kitchen at home. For example, many of us knew about the posh woman who was in possession of the 'homelessness gene' losing a tooth in a punch up with Mad Angus over a methadone script. A wonderful demonstration of the futility of trying to impose rules on the human mind, but I'd heard it less than two weeks ago on the BBC website.I loved the show, I really did, and would be entertained by him just thinking aloud, but I am the target audience. Mid forties with a love of learning and nostalgic enough for his earlier work to gloss over the gaps and laugh free zones. He is very clever and funny, but maybe the audience expected more funny and less science? He deserves a bigger arena, however his profile has shrunk due to his commendable ethical stance on everything from philosophy to transport. Rumour has it his website's server is run on carbon neutral power.

The energy in the room was never at full power, and it could be that the almost arrogant self belief that ensured his status as one of the UKs most popular comedians has been lost. Now he shows a love of knowledge, and this has brought with it a hesitancy as knowing stuff has never been all that sexy.

7/10 (but I'd watch him again in a heartbeat)