Working uphill from the start of the evening, with promotions staff turning up late to watch the show and the dehumidifier failing to stifle the rising temperature, Lock’s talent shone through despite a difficult evening.
The Fringe veteran took the room on a journey through surreal word-play, bizzare imagery and teapot poses. Spanish and Brazilian audience members prompted a flurry of foreign language jokes from the comic, in which he discovered a South American teacher who spoke like Sean Connery and bred like a salmon.
Unfortunately, not all the audience members were such a gold mine of comedy material. One zebra-clad lady on the front row, who had previously spouted out what a big fan she was, spoilt a whole segment by interrupting with the punchline. There isn’t much worse that you could do to a professional comedian. From that point followed a painful discussion about comics who die at the Fringe and the difficulties that Lock would have with comitting suicide.
In his own words, Lock “died so that other comics might live” and finished with a countdown to the end of the show and two painful silences in which audience members told their own knock knock jokes, prompting a bout of uncomfortable hilarity in which Trevor Lock summed up the failure of his first preview performance.
With a more lively audience, Lock would have much more material with which to spin his improv-heavy act. Good shoes, and great improvisation let down by a meek audience in a melting room.
