★★★★★
Hard to Say is a witty, self-effacing introduction to Ayers and his personal experiences with Trigeminal Neuralgia. Most of his set revolves around how his disease and chronic pain have impacted his life, though he does detour into getting stung by a stingray on his day off, writing one-liners whilst on different types of pain medication, and how NYC rats are evolving to hitch a ride on human feet.
It’s certainly not all jokes, though. Ayers’ mix of hilarity and his own reality make the moments of sincerity all the more impactful. Between gags and high-speed PowerPoint slides, he takes the time to ruminate on how being diagnosed with ‘Suicide Disease’ ripped up his life plans and dragged him away from his friends, family, and support network. He jokes a lot about how he doesn’t ‘look’ as if he is in chronic pain, and yet onstage he comes across as someone who hit rock bottom a while ago, but is now back up on the rebound as hard as his exploded neurons will allow.
At the start of Ayers’ set, we’re warned that there are parts of his show which are going to get a little heavy, and he hands a few plastic slide whistles out to the room, which we were told to use as a signal if it all got a bit too dark. I think the fact I didn’t hear a single peep, toot, or bloop is testament to Kyle’s ability to cradle his audience in the palm of his hand, make us laugh, but also fully engage us with the parts that are hard to say.
