Aaron Barschak added greatly to the jollity of the world when he went over the wall of Windsor Castle in a turban and pink dress to become the uninvited jester at Prince William's 21st birthday party. "We all love you," he told the prince before planting a smacker of a kiss on his cheek.
But no one, alas, loves Barschak now. He has outstayed his 15 minutes of fame, and even the merkin he wore on that fateful day cannot cover his lack of material or talent as a stand-up. "I know you're dying to get away," he sighed, 10 minutes into his set, and we were. It wasn't quite as painful or sticking pins in your eyes, as some have said, but it was close.
There was the skeleton of a good routine in there, dusted with the broken glass of heartfelt conviction. Barschak is what right-wing Israelis call a "self-hating Jew", and that liberal angst was at its rawest in his Jew With No Name skit and a board game called Hebrewopoly that might have worked in surer hands. However, he only really held the room when he retold the story of his most famous escapade.
Most small deaths on the fringe have few witnesses. It was Barschak's ill luck that his happened in the eye of a maelstrom of publicity that he is not equipped to deal with. He has already cancelled two shows, citing nervous exhaustion, but his ordeal is likely to linger on. The TV crew he invited to film his fringe debut will no doubt see to that.
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