Neo-Darwinism isn’t just a dry and dusty scientific movement – it is something which informs today’s society, and the freemarket economics which hold sway.
Completing a double bill of cerebral comedy at The Old Market, former Mary Whitehouse star Robert Newman tore into neo-Darwinists such as Richard Dawkins and the idea of survival of the fittest by going back to Charles Darwin’s original texts and recent biological observations involving societies of ants, bats and buffalo.
Dressed in ill-fitting professorial garb he sugared the scientific language and his layers of research with pinsharp one-liners on modern life, surreal tangents and a couple of singalong songs on his ukulele.
This was comedy designed to make you think - painstakingly constructed with regular call backs and running jokes – which had to be experienced live.
It’s hard to imagine Newman’s endearing but occasionally verbose delivery sitting well on Live At The Apollo in a ten-minute slot.
The passionate delivery and sharp writing from the man who, alongside David Baddiel, staged the first UK comedy arena shows is still clearly visible, but perhaps Newman’s role is now to push the barriers of the genre, and move it on from the observational style filling concert halls around the country.
As Bill Hicks once put it – comedy you couldn’t possibly think up yourself.
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