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[title]With the comedy boom still, well, booming, it’s only a matter of time before a cocky comedian upscales from arenas to football stadiums. Who will make the leap first? Peter Kay? Eddie Izzard? Michael McIntyre?
Avant-garde comedy god Simon Munnery isn’t exactly the most likely suspect. But the 45-year-old Fringe veteran does have one advantage over his household name colleagues: his show’s already ‘stadium ready’.
Nope, that doesn’t mean ‘Fylm’ is full of pyrotechnics, special effects or costume changes. In fact, Munnery isn’t on stage at all. He’s sat in the audience, with his face projected onto a screen and, of course, that’s all you’re staring at when you attend a stadium gig.
‘The camera amplifies the face the same way the microphone amplifies the voice,’ is Munnery’s theory, and using some lights and a piece of glass he’s able to switch the camera shot between his mug and the table he’s sat at.
Anybody who saw last year’s ‘Fylm-Makker’ will know the format. ‘Fylm’ is effectively a sequel; a new hour of live animations, whimsical non-sequiturs and visual one-liners using Munnery’s technical toy. It’s the cardboard animations with David Shirgley-style drawings that get the biggest laughs, including puppy doctors/astronauts Snifflick and Woffles, a deleted scene from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and a quick advert for Foster’s.
The format hasn't progressed hugely from last year’s ‘Fylm-Makker’; it’s still far from slick and is a bit of a mish-mash of ideas. But slick isn’t Munnery’s style, and it’s such an inventive concept that it’d be a waste to ditch the kit after one hour-long show. Long may Simon of the Munnerys and his Fylms continue.
See 'Simon Munnery – Fylm' at the Edinburgh Fringe