Phil Wang: Philth, Daphne Do Edinburgh In London
Talented up-and-comer Phil Wang has a deeply unorthodox performance style. He has the awkward physicality of a gawky teenager, and his offbeat speech patterns suggest someone unaccustomed to public speaking. But, in a world of self-assured and polished performers, something different stands out, and Wang makes his unusual approach work for him. It certainly meshes perfectly with his material, rooted as it is in the experience of feeling like a nerdish outsider at the perpetual bacchanal of young male life. Wang performs this week in not one but two shows, both of which netted him significant acclaim at this summer’s Edinburgh fringe. His solo hour, Philth, perfectly showcases his approach to stand-up, filled with pathos-tinged reflections on love and terse punchlines. He’s also part of the rather more rambunctious sketch trio Daphne (alongside fellow Cambridge alumni George Fouracres and Jason Forbes), who provide a high-energy show full of appealingly broad humour and quirky physical setpieces.
The Invisible Dot, N1, Sat (Philth); Mon to Fri (Daphne Do Edinburgh In London)
Dan Evans
Bordon, Portsmouth
Every comic working regularly on the live circuit feels that they deserve more exposure, and that if they only got a break on TV then the whole country would recognise their talents. It’s not generally true, but it is of Dan Evans, a genuinely original and delightfully silly performer rated very highly by his comedian peers. He’s a frequent collaborator with Mock The Week’s resident punster Milton Jones, and you can see that they share the same relaxed refusal to take the world too seriously. Evans specialises in jokes that depend on misdirection, sending the audience on a seemingly long-winded goose chase that always manages to prevent them from guessing his typically elegant and hugely memorable punchlines. He has quite a classical approach to stand-up: there are no confessions of personal foibles or attempts at hard-hitting satire, just acres of proper jokes of the kind that won’t date.
Phoenix Theatre, Bordon, Thu; Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth, Fri
Jessie Cave: I Loved Her
London
A common complaint about young stand-ups is that they don’t have enough life experience, the result being that a load of them offer up the same observations about flat-sharing, nights out and TV shows they’ve seen. Jessie Cave has dramatically broadened her horizons in the last year since becoming pregnant as the result of a one-night stand with a fellow comedian. I Loved Her is the story of the resulting changes in her life, not only accommodating a baby into her previously self-absorbed world, but also trying to build a relationship with the father of her child. This isn’t a mopey show, or one filled with tedious preaching; Cave’s got too much of a daffy sense of fun to go down that route. Instead, the whole thing is packed with Josie Long-ish handmade props, puppetry and faux-naïf drawings, making for a charmingly lo-fi and authentically personal show.
Upstairs, Soho Theatre, W1, Tue to 5 Dec
