Last night, I enjoyed comedian Alex Farrow’s new show The Wisdom of the Crowd at Common Ground Workspace. It was a preview, or as he jokingly put it ‘mock exam’, before his Edinburgh Fringe performances in August.
As the host and a longstanding member of Jericho Comedy, Farrow is someone I’ve seen as an emcee far more than as a solo performer and he’s never failed to impress me with his subtle and quick-witted crowd work, a strength he leans into in this solo show.
His energy is very unassuming, like a friend’s slightly shy boyfriend who reveals a secret droll wit after one and a half pints. While some comedians wear down your defences with a barrage of emotions, Farrow’s methodology seems to be more about creating a space, where the absurdity of life can rush in and be observed. I think that’s partly why he’s so adept at warming up crowds - the pithy, low-pressure style lays a perfect breeding ground for a case of the giggles.
At one point, he pokes fun at an audience member who asked him before the show ‘What will the themes be?’ dubbing it ‘the most Oxford comment ever’. Sitting there with my critic hat on, I thought, he’s going to hate this review. Not because I planned to be negative - I’ve always had fun watching his comedy, and last night was no exception - but because I was already planning to pounce on that just-mocked subject: the evening’s themes.
The topics of the night ricocheted from teaching philosophy to 13-year-old boys, to taking a ‘poo pill’ as a participant in a gut health study, to the ever-advancing power of AI, to the uneasy origins of German digestif Jagermeister, beloved by students everywhere when mixed with Red Bull, which then took us into the history of fascism and the importance of democracy. While each segment was very amusing on its own, I would’ve loved it even more if these anecdotes were tied together further at the beginning and end of the show.
Throughout the night, Farrow circled back to the concept of truth: how honest are we with ourselves, with other people, with a comedian putting us on the spot? It’s fascinating stuff, and I found myself wanting Farrow to let the spotlight linger a bit more on his crowd. The interactions weaving throughout the show remained fairly superficial and it would have been a thrill to see this mild-mannered comic push a little bit harder. It didn’t help that the material was almost aggressively unchallenging (there’s an ongoing bit about how Farrow volunteers as a litter picker to help the environment, which he somehow makes quite funny, but it’s hard to think of a safer topic of conversation).
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think envelope-pushing comedy is somehow always superior, and I respect the idea of ‘when in doubt, play it safe’. So when I say Farrow could afford to take more risks in future, it’s because he’s already succeeding easily in winning his audience over. I left the show feeling fizzy and smiley, wanting more in a good way. I look forward to seeing more of his work.