Fringe review: Larry Dean – Fudnut
Adelaide Fringe
Confessional comedian Larry Dean offers an hour of self-deprecating, crude humour with a side of rowdy boyish charm. ★★★★
Larry Dean’s brand of comedy is crude but charming, with the Glaswegian best known for his work on televised British comedies Live at the Apollo and Mock the Week and his performances at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala.
Dean’s material is often a collection of tragi-comic anecdotes – and Fudnut is no different.
In his previous show, he recollected his break-up with his boyfriend. He has since got back together with the bloke, only to break up again.
In Fudnut – a Scottish word for idiot – Dean gives us his take on where the relationship went so horribly awry the second time around.
It’s a highly enjoyable and zeitgeisty set with stories about his family, sex life and travels punctuated by cheeky impressions of his therapist and farcical tunes. The comedy is a mix of accents, slapstick and (as one audience member so gingerly heckled) naughty one-liners.
Jokes about pre-masturbation, haemorrhoids and life as a masculine gay man make for an unabashed, feel-good routine.
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Dean is clearly very comfortable with a mic in his hand but some of the material still felt a little raw. There are moments while discussing his ex-partners when he seems to be trying a little too hard to convince us all that everything is okay. But, for the most part, these moments of tension are eased with clever punchlines.
In this particular evening show, the set got somewhat derailed by two hecklers in the front row. Dean bantered well with the pair, but at the end of the set the duo seemed to take control and the other audience members grew a little restless. Dean finished by reining in the hecklers and sharing some final laughs.
The Scot is on his way to comedy greatness. See him now while he’s still a little green.
Fudnut is at the Garden of Unearthly Delights until March 15.
See more Fringe and Festival stories and reviews here.
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