Universal
R4 DVD
Real name Chris Collins, Frank Skinner is a British standup comedian.
Judging by the size of the crowd he has drawn in his native Birmingham in this
DVD (the show dates back to 1992), he is a very popular comedian. He has been
doing comedy since 1985 and his experience shows in what is a very confident
presentation style. He has a fair amount of TV experience, both writing and
acting, but since I haven’t seen any of his shows I can’t comment on them. In
his last British tour all sixty nine of his shows sold out, and that’s comment
enough.
Frank is not brash and outspoken. He is rather restrained and even a
little sad, as the main theme of his act is his midlife crisis and the changes
to his sex life now he has passed fifty. A word of warning here: Frank’s monologue
is often about sex, and he gets quite down to earth sometimes, but he doesn’t
slip over the edge into tastelessness. Indeed, he invites a young lady in the
front row to give him a “thumbs down” if she thinks a joke is verging on
tasteless.
Although some of the situations he discusses could be offensive, he
never loses sight of the need to be funny, not dirty. What, for instance, are
the pitfalls of leaving your shirt on during sex?
Frank is not a brash one-liner comedian in the American style. He goes
into a subject in fair detail, and his act is very visual. He has a rather
large stage and manages to use every bit of it during the performance. I think
he has that British gift of being able to gradually build up a sense of the
ridiculous in small steps, leading to a hilarious punch line. His timing and gestures are perfect, his delivery is clear and free of
unnecessary swearing (something he is becoming passionate about). He is really
a pleasure to watch in action, and he is genuinely funny, and I didn’t find his
act the least bit offensive.
I enjoyed every minute of his show, and was pleasantly surprised when he
returned to the stage when I thought it was over, to do his tribute song to
Osama bin Laden (in George Formby style complete with banjo). And then he came
back again to discuss Granny Sex videos. Now, that should be getting pretty
tasteless, but with Frank it worked.
So don’t be put off by the main subject matter – just sit back and enjoy
a really good comedian.
This review will appear in Volume 2:1
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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