★★★★
Adelaide Fringe. The Piglet at Gluttony. 18 Mar 2022
Gary McAllister hails from Scotland and he is as funny as f#%k, although he doesn’t rely on crude language to get his laughs – there definitely is some. Having said that, why is it that Scottish stand-up comedians can easily get away with uttering particularly crude words but leave you in stitches of laughter, whereas many other comedians just sound offensive? Is it their brogue? Does that take the edge off (or does it add an edge?), or is it because they purposely reserve particular words for precise situations?
McAllister certainly chooses his words carefully – he’s actually a fine orator with a good vocabulary, but he’s never stuffy with it. He knows how to deliver a knockout punchline, and even when the content is bordering on routine, he always delivers a multitude of laughs in rapid succession. Every face in the audience seems to get quickly locked into a permanent smile! You just have to laugh!
Many successful stand-ups base a lot of their routine on themselves and how they feel about life in general. McAllister keenly understands this, and a lot of his material is about his own family, and it is oh so funny. He often draws you into preconceived notions of how a story is going to end – about his wife or children for example – but then slaughters those assumptions and leaves you in paroxysms of laughter.
McAllister clearly loves people, and meeting people, and although bantering with the audience can be fraught, McAllister has it down to a fine art. This evening’s performance saw him focus on a fit easy-on-the-eye seventeen-year old lad, and the banter was endearing. Yes, the lad bore the brunt of some good-hearted and harmless laughs, but McAllister showed genuine interest and used it to fuel the narrative of his show. The audience felt and understood what McAllister was feeling and saying, and it endeared him to us.
This is a really fun show, and McAllister leaves you with some genuinely funny take-away jokes to try out yourself! And they work!
Highly recommended.
Kym Clayton
When: 18 to 19 Mar
Where: The Piglet at Gluttony
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
