| 15 August 2011
Seeing Matt Green was an unexpected dream tonight. Regardless of your social status as a teenager, you surely remember the tireless struggle between the geek and the ‘cool’ guys, who - let’s face it - no one actually believed were cool. Accordingly, rather than vaguely delineate Green’s positive attributes or the widespread appeal of his show, I’ll let last night’s unplanned Revenge-of-the-Nerds-esque narrative speak for Green’s solid show.
By now, we know the audience is inextricably connected to a show’s success, particularly that of stand-up. So, when a comic is dealt two very vocal meatheads, as Green was tonight, you wouldn’t be wrong to brace yourself for tension.
In fact, that is exactly how I spent the first moment of the show. Though nearly full last night, the ‘Upstairs’ room of the Pleasance Courtyard is definitely on the more intimate end of the venue spectrum, feeling even smaller as the two startlingly shallow young men in front of me exchanged wide-eyed looks and howled with laughter at the small-framed comic entering the room. To this, the bewildered Green stared wide-eyed right back at them and simply smiled.
This subtle, yet gloriously satisfying response (for me, at least) acknowledged the unnecessary tension and dismantled it so swiftly that, within moments, the aforementioned men transformed into Green’s biggest fans - sitting behind them, I could tell their laughter was at nothing more than his jokes.
Before the show, I had been wrongly put-off for a very different reason: when trying to find the venue, I made the mistake of reading too much of Green’s flyer, from which a mental groan formed at the prospect of more social media ranting. To my delight, Green’s set - aided by the most ludicrously amusing prop I’ve seen yet - showed me that it is possible to take the most seemingly-tired material and make it fresh if you’ve got talent.
Matt Green: Too Much Information, Pleasance Upstairs, 12-28 Aug, 8.30 pm
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