Edinburgh festival
Comedy
Edinburgh festival rapid review: Scott Capurro
Belly Laugh, Underbelly, Edinburgh
Leo Benedictus
guardian.co.uk, Monday August 11 2008 14:16 BST
Article history
Time: 9.15pm
Scott Capurro
Goes Deeper
Belly Laugh, Underbelly, Edinburgh
Until August 11, 13-18, 20-24
Box office:
0844-545 8252
Venue website
Capacity: 150. 80% full at the beginning, 60% by the end.
The theme: All that’s sacred. Let me consult my notes … erm … cancer, the prophet Muhammad, paedophilia, fisting, abortion, the word “nigger”, Madeleine McCann, Aids, Catholicism, anal rape … That enough for you? Even so, it does not begin to convey the depth and range of offence that Capurro sets out to cause. The 45-year-old San Franciscan’s graphic one-liners and camp, high-speed delivery are like the finely calibrated instruments of a consultant sociopath. And he can enrage an unsuspecting punter in less than 30 seconds – like the army medic, returned from Iraq, who had to listen to an explanation of why all the men he had treated should have been left to die. It was like watching someone trying to commit suicide by lynching. Little wonder all the front row seats were empty. “You cowards!” Capurro shrieked when he first came in.
High point: Danger. Only in a Capurro gig do you realise how childish and tame all the other supposedly transgressive standups on the circuit really are. Some of his remarks, about the Qur’an in particular, do seem inadvisably brave. And yet he is no bigot. Whenever he criticizes the behaviour of a group of people there is at least a superficial case to be made – even if it involves trampling on the assumption that some groups of people should be above criticism, at least from him. Deep down we are all racists, sexists and generalisers of one kind or another, is Capurro’s basic and provocative argument, so stop being such a hypocrite about it.
Weak spot: With all the walkouts and heckling he brings upon himself, it must be almost impossible for a Capurro gig to go according to plan. Which is particularly problematic this year as his show, Goes Deeper, clearly has a fairly serious plan to stick to, involving his relationship with his current boyfriend. Whatever Capurro had in mind, however, it did not come off. In fact it was smashed into a mound of twisted wreckage by the self-adoring heckles of a drunken Dutch girl, who finally had to be removed by security. He dealt with the problem fairly well, considering, but a good portion of the show was ruined, and his wider purpose sidetracked beyond repair.
Audience participation: Sharp intakes of breath, continuous heckles, the mass departure of one entire row in protest at Capurro’s McCann material. Some laughter.
Comic equation: Larry Grayson x (Lenny Bruce + Chris Rock)
Mark out of 10: 7, even though it was a disaster.
Put this on your poster: Warning! Contains strong language, sexual imagery, extreme blasphemy, racial terms, sustained personal abuse and scenes of cruelty to children that all viewers may find distressing.