On first sight, Michael Chamberlin’s show Keep Yourself Nice may appear to be about self improvement or etiquette. Upon closer inspection of his blurb you will find it is merely an excuse for Michael to whinge about others for an hour, a vein that he has successfully mined for years.
Working sans microphone Michael spent the hour getting worked up about the minutiae of life as well as some larger issues. His shouty style was well suited to this material as it just wouldn’t be the same delivered in a gentle tone. He paced the stage like a caged tiger as ploughed through his act with only the briefest of pauses to allow the audience to catch their breath from laughing. A punter who lost control laughing during a classic routine caused the show to grind to a halt temporarily, but when everyone settled down again it was business as usual.
The material itself was a mixture of old and new. He worked in some jokes about recent events (being possibly the first to joke about the Hey Dad! revelations on stage) and presented some classic routines which all sat well together. The ratio of old to new seemed a little high but were justified in their relevance to this collection. He kept mentioning the concept of Keeping Yourself Nice but it often felt like unnecessary segues as the material was of the same mindset and could have easily flowed from one routine to another.
The staging was as bare boned as you can get with the exception of his impressive rockstar introduction. This effectively set the energy level of his performance and got the crowd suitably pumped up.
This show was classic Chamberlin. Those who have seen him before will know what to expect and will be able to recite some of his gear along with him. For those who haven’t this is a great introduction into the mind of Michael Chamberlin. He is the consummate professional and everyone is sure to enjoy themselves.
For booking details visit the Comedy Festival website