A member of the Wizard Sandwiches sketch troupe, Dylan Cole has branched out for his first solo show I’m Not Here. Those drawn in by the Bob Dylan imagery of the promotional material will not find folk music, instead they will be treated to a solid set of stand up.
Dylan kicked off his set in one of the most confronting ways imaginable. He started with some disturbing Josef Fritzl material which led into his exploration of menstruation and childbirth from a male perspective. Female comics have always copped a lot of flack with this topic so it was fascinating to see what kind of spin he could put on it and the reaction it would provoke. The results weren’t very pretty with a somewhat aggressive attitude in the material which made it often shocking rather than clever. The imagery he provided was extremely graphic and ventured into scatological territory which did get laughs but there was also plenty recoiling in horror.
The rest of the set was a bit of roller coaster ride that went from light and silly one minute to ridiculously graphic the next. This was certainly a show of contrasting extremes which he pulled off rather well if the chortling crowd were anything to go by. The underpinning theme of his not being able to understand the world was relevant to most of the material with a bit of random silliness thrown in.
He utilised PowerPoint and images to punctuate his jokes. Plenty of funny images liberated from the internet popped up that were vaguely related to his material while more substantial pictures were given some Photoshop help. Most impressive were actual photos from his life that featured in a charming routine about a stalker. His list of ‘fun facts’ was merely read verbatim from the screen which was not the most effective use of PowerPoint and the images often remained on the screen long after the joke was over. A nice little recurring joke was his amusing remote control device.
There was a small musical component to show, firstly using a bass recorder to add some strangely mystical atmosphere to one routine. He concluded the show with a deliberately bad song on ukelele which included solos on a variety of strange objects.
Dylan was quite affable on stage with a touch of larrikin about him. This gave his stage persona a cheeky aspect that helped to make the off color and graphic material a little more palatable. When he did express the edgy material he pushed it hard, going further and further into Wrongtown with each line.
This was an enjoyable show that would be suited to those with strong stomaches. If you can tolerate his edgy extremes you are sure to find something to tickle your funny bone in this sturdy performance.
For booking details visit the Comedy Festival website