Theatre Bubble

There’s one thing you should never do at a comedy gig: arrive late. When two pretty demoiselles walked in on Kojo in full swing, he swaggered up to them saying “We were all talking about how we lost our virginity...” Kojo reminds me of Eddie Murphy in his brilliant 1987 RAW (but without those glossy purple trousers, unfortunately). He not only notices those little human absurdities, but he manages to give them flesh, whole characters in mid conflict.

He talks about being so skint you don’t ask the cabbie to go from A to B, but ‘to five pounds’. He jokes about us ladies who think we are the special one (well yes!) and also about those childhood traumas of being taken round Toys R Us, to be shown all the presents you won’t be getting for Christmas. It helps that Kojo’s face has a Silly Putty quality that lends itself to a multitude of personas and voices, and although he has confessed in the past that his stand-up is thoroughly practiced, it doesn’t feel that way when you’re watching him. Two details that I was particularly impressed with, where his ability to make a realistic ringing telephone sound (it’s not that easy!) and his joke about the illegal status of gay soldiers in some countries. With a strong Nigerian accent he shouts “No! I’m sorry! I can’t shoot him he’s too sexy!”

At Soho Theatre Kojo is brilliantly warmed up by Maureen Younger, who gets really narked when people don’t give her a place on the tube, because she has fatty bits that could be mistaken for pregnancy. She also points out the benefits of having an imaginary boyfriend and how to deal with someone shouting “slaaaaaag!” at you on the bus (with a rainbow gesture of the arm for emphasis).

Kojo calls this show his classroom, because he’s testing out some new material for next year’s Hammersmith Apollo. For the last part of the show he pulls out his notes and places them on a barstool. I ask my friend Allie if she found this distracted from the ‘show’ aspect. “NO!” She says “I liked the honesty of it. You feel like you’re participating in the creation of his material. The only bit I wasn’t sure about was the joke about ejaculation with the microphone wire.” Allie says, referring to the wire getting thrown up and down and up and down at up, and down. “But that’s because I saw that there was a kid in the seat in front of me. His mum beside him was laughing, but he was mortified!” Indeed! Showing up with your mum at a comedy gig, that features jokes on the paranoia caused by watching porn, might be another entry for the ‘not to do when attending a comedy gig' list.

Image of Kojo taken from http: www.officialkojo.com

Cast:
Kojo
http://www.officialkojo.com
Maureen Younger/ Mo Younger
http://www.maureenyounger.co.uk

Check out Soho Theatre for more informationhttp://www.sohotheatre.com/

kojo, soho theatre