Soho Theatre
London
October 4th

Ian Smith brought his critically acclaimed, Edinburgh Comedy Award nominated show, ‘Crushing’ to the Soho Theatre, London. The dishevelled Yorkshireman delivers a masterful chaos, having crafted a show that hits the high notes and tantalises audiences with prime observational raconteuring.

The theme is ‘stressing less’. Hilariously, his attempts to stress less by unpacking various stresses in a comedy show gives the impression of a car crash in motion. This is exactly what he intends because we are in the hands of a skilled comedian. The happy accidents are cultivated by Smith, his hand firmly on the gear stick at all times – driving us over the edge only to land on the road beneath, still on track. As Barry Humphries says about chaos in comedy, you have to steer into the skid. Smith not only steers into skids, he is actively looking for them, revelling in the twists and turns and dodging wildlife on the highway like a truck driver wired on coffee pulling an all-nighter.

He deftly mines a variety of topics for rich comedic payoff. Whether it’s a defecation in the bed of your hotel room by the person who booked it before you, or dental occlusion splints (mouthgaurds) or the inneffectiveness of floatation tanks to help you de-stress – Smith will take it apart, put it back together again and it still will be f**ked )(but at least it’s funny. He doesn’t just visit upon a clever perspective, he crushes it until it’s bent out of shape and you marvel at the fact you never saw it that way before. You’ll have to see the show to find out what happens to a literal car that he travels to Slovakia to de-stress with, although given the title of the show and what he does to every topic, you don’t get any points for guessing. A top-notch night out.

Stuart Bruce