You'd think it'd be difficult to be a quick fire comedian with a guitar. Most
singing comedians prefer to use their songs to pad out time, leaving the actual
humour as long as possible. Steve Gribbin fires off musical jokes like he's
got a quota to get through.
And the jokes are good. He ranges from musing on a James Brown/Morrisey duet
("I feel good!" "I don't."), to some topical political humour ("The only reason
they gave Saddam a suit at his trial was to get his neck size for the hangman"),
and a nice line in sporting gags which took his home town football club,
Liverpool, and also the wider issue of drugs in sport.
A rapid fire jokester, only via the medium of song, he kept his targets
easily identifiable. What marked him out as a good talent was his anger at the
world, and his willingness to get worked up about what he was saying. In
particular, his rage at the sheer banality of Big Brother was great to listen
to, advocating a sniper on the building opposite so that whenever things get a
bit dull it's bullet-to-the-head time.
The audience warmed to his speedy lines of jokes, and when the time came to
say goodbye to him they forced him back on for an encore, a chance he took with
relish, with a short routine about the nature of Protestant and Catholic Hells,
before finishing with an extremely pointed and satirical Anti-Bush song. His
material may not be cutting edge, but he fulfills the main objective of being a
comedian: He's funny.
Reviewed at Guilfest 2004
