★★★★
I wasn’t sure what to make of Novellie’s show at first. Opening with a story about moving from one part of London to another, didn’t seem exciting or particularly original. But Novellie’s writing is exquisite. He builds a dense linguistic essay about the managed decline of Western Civilisation that’s as hilarious as it is poignant.
What’s so impressive about Pierre Novellie, is that he doesn’t pander; he doesn’t indulge in crowd-work for the sake of it. The audience laugh constantly, yet he doesn’t stop to artificially pause, you’re totally in his thrall. He’s poised and still, in his red-tie and suit, like a disgraced Labour politician. I felt like all the rules of what you’re supposed to do in stand-up where eschewed in favour of y’know actually being funny! His riffs on how people dress at airports, his youth on the Isle of Mann and saving the precious beef, all manage to thread together seamlessly.
By the end of the hour, my heart felt lighter, it’s so great to see an autistic comedian build a show around common experience. It’s quietly profound, that his observations, that I could really relate to as a fellow autistic, translate to the neurotypicals in the audience. Perhaps we aren’t so different after all…
In an age where the hokey paint-by-numbers stand-up of so many ‘straight white male comedians’ has become a death knell in comedy clubs, the demographic of talented acts who fall into that category have to adapt of die. Pierre Novellie is an evolved stand-up, beautifully vulnerable, totally himself and so funny, that you forget that his intelligent piercing of modern society is actually profoundly tragic.
Pierre Novellie is performing his new show, ‘You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here’, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 29th July – 24th August (19:05) at Monkey Barrel 3 – tickets on sale now at www.pierrenovellie.com
