John Tothill review: One of the strongest comedy debuts of the year
Image: Rebecca Need-Menear
Welcome to the school of John Tothill, where the Fringe’s most attractive girls’ girls and freaks unite.
The comedian-slash-teacher’s debut show The Last Living Libertine is the most anarchic history lesson you’ve ever had, but you can guarantee that no teacher or comedian has ever delivered a central thesis such as this. Buckle up, because today, class, we’ll be starting with Catholicism and “the changing nature of pleasure seeking in the United Kingdom”, and ending with acid techno, stopping somewhere along the way at Oliver Cromwell.
John says he’s a bad teacher, but his handling of one audience member who doesn’t want to settle down is expertly done. It’s a very good tactic to announce how much you fancy the audience at the top of the show, but I’d wager, even without that, he’d have had everyone on side just the same. Mostly, you’re in your seat feeling like a naughty kid who’s just heard a grown-up say a bad word.
Strangely, and seemingly against all odds given a distinct air of lawlessness, I do actually leave feeling like I’ve learnt something, even if his style of education is what you would get if Wikipedia was a rollercoaster at Thorpe Park.
His borderline-frantic main character energy, which he is cultivating in the hope of one day being just famous enough to storm off Lorraine in outrage, never lets up. He positions himself as many things — a medieval court jester, a nine-year-old boy king, a future 105-year-old geriatric national treasure who is wheeled out at royal weddings — and he manages to fit all of these descriptions simultaneously.
There is so much flying around this tightly-woven hour, with jokes seeming to fizz about him like fireflies, and there is no doubt that credit must also be paid to the wonderful Adam Brace, who directed this debut.
John has charisma out the wazoo. He could walk out the theatre playing his clarinet Pied Piper-style and the entire room would follow him, miss their next show and still be laughing. One of the strongest and most polished debuts of this year’s Fringe.
John Tothill: The Last Living Libertine is at the Pleasance Courtyard, 8:30pm until August 27th. Tickets here.
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