It’s easy to see why Stephen K Amos is such a popular comedian. There’s something about his attitude on stage and cheeky grin that you can’t help but be drawn in by.
First gracing the stage as under the guise of a African Prince, Stephen performs an hilarious opening with the aid of a somewhat reluctant translator. Including a few Australian references to ingratiate himself with the audience, and a wide variety of gags ranging from crass to clever, the audience just didn’t stop laughing the entire time. Following this up with some audience banter, Stephen twists this often tired mechanism by treating each audience member as a foreign delegate, burdening them with all the stereotypes of their assigned countries.
After this introduction, Stephen leaves the stage to return as himself and begin the show proper. It was at this point that I started to become a bit disappointed with his show. The standup material was mainly put on the backburner as Stephen instead spent the majority of his time continuing his audience discussions. While this was all still very entertaining, and he’s absolutely brilliant at thinking on his feet and dealing with people, it’s the sort of thing that a comic of his ability could do without trying. I was still left laughing the entire show, but they weren’t the sort of laughs that stuck with me after I walked out the door.
Despite the fact that Stephen doesn’t seem to have a full hour of prepared material at the moment, his improvisational skills and boundless energy still create an undeniably hilarious show. This is a show that anybody will most definitely walk out of feeling well and truly entertained.