The Invisible Dot Club at the Proud Gallery

The Invisible Dot Club at the Proud Gallery

18 February, 2009
by: Emma

The Invisible Dot is a new concept comedy club that pops up sporadically in random venues and festivals with different themes each time.  It promises first rate entertainment with a total mixture of comedy acts from stand-up to character comedians, videos, music and poetry performances.  Last night was the opening night, held in Camden's Proud Gallery and ex-Horse Hospital. As such the bar is still separated into stable booths with famous horse names like Phar Lap and Black Beauty.  Gimmicky?  Yes.  Did I still think it was part of the reason I love travelling up to wacky old Camden Town?  Certainly.

Tonight's themes are the stalwarts of comedy material: Love, God and Evolution.  Everybody apart from Daniel Kitson sticks to the brief, but let's be honest, when it's Kitson, who cares?  Although admitting he is an atheist, Simon Munnery is clearly no Richard Dawkins fan, as he explains, bringing on an inflatable kangaroo with Dawkins' face attached, that he always has to ruin everyone's fun.  A funny conversation ensues between the pair as the Dawkeroo debunks the myths of love (just a chemical imbalance) and salad (just ingredients on a plate). Munnery has by no means lost his unique, offbeat appeal but as compere he spends far too long indulging himself on his own material and at times, even digresses into general chit chat about living in the country and his children which raises few laughs. The night didn't finish till 11:30pm which is a shade too long for any comedy night.

Aussie musician Tim Minchin sums up the scientific thinker's intolerance to new-age hippies with his now legendary nine-minute beat poem entitled 'Storm'.  His lyrical dexterity, never once tripping over his tongue and steadily building pace and vehemence is incredibly impressive as he sums up his point in the lines: "Science adjusts its views based on what's observed; faith is the denial of observation so that belief can be preserved."
 
Comedy actor Kevin Eldon (Fist of Fun, Jam, I'm Alan Partridge, Brass Eye) appears as the poet Paul Hamilton from his Radio 4 series Poets' Tree.  He manages to cover all three themes with some wonderfully pretentious, flowery verse that has the audience in hysterics.  Pippa Evans is also in character as jaded and slightly psychotic singer Loretta Maine, demonstrating some impressive acting skills and powerful vocals. Tim Key has a collection of short silly poems that it would be an injustice to repeat as it really is all in the telling that makes his act quite so funny. The one let-down of the night is Arthur Smith who decides to read long arduous passages from his autobiography and sends everyone to sleep.  It actually sounds like a good read but the situation is all wrong.  People are expecting jokes, not life stories.

The grand 30-minute finale is Daniel Kitson, completing the star cast of the evening. The first 15 minutes are brilliant as he skates around the theme of racism and what should and shouldn't be deemed offensive relating to the Prince Harry 'paki' outrage.  He shows us a notebook with some scrawled writing in it: "I'm going to do this page but not this one because to be honest....it's ferociously racist." The set isn't exactly seamless but with some stand-out jokes that get the loudest laughs of the night, it's good to see the masterful story-teller back in the stand-up game.

The line-up pulled no punches with big theatre performers, legendary veterans, exciting young acts and cult favourites contributing to a sell-out night. If The Invisible Dot carries on in the same vein, it can't fail to be an ongoing success.


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Emma