Underbelly Cowgate
Aug 3-27 (21.55)
Acta Non Verba
With jokes about suicide, gender politics and a very upset testicle. This show is not for the faint hearted or easily offended. Elliot Steel’s Love & Hate Speech is proper comedy!
The streets of Edinburgh feel weirdly empty for this time of year and it’s not even raining. Despite this, Elliot’s room is almost full. Gangsta rap music plays, creating an edgy atmosphere before Elliot comes to the stage wearing an Adidas t-shirt, with his messy long hair framing his puppy dog eyes. His deep voice and south London accent give him an air of authority despite his young age of 26.
Bold start. He opens with a paedo joke. It lands. What follows is a strong opening set, joke after joke delights the audience, he talks about the city of Edinburgh, his south London upbringing and advice received on how he should spend his 20s. The contrast between the fantasy and reality of what a man in his 20s should be up to is a goldmine for hilarious gags.
A self confessed nepo baby, as the son of comedian Mark Steel. He describes what it was like growing up with a political comedian as a Dad. Thinking about confrontations with his own father, leads into material around wider generational conflict. This is clever and philosophical as he reflects on how fear and hatred are intertwined.
He’s left wing, but he thinks the left is mental and after winning the trust of the audience he carefully veers into the most contentious topic of current affairs – The trans debate. The energy of the room shifts, perhaps as speaking on the issue has been the trigger of many a cancellation. He doesn’t do justice to the complexity of the trans rights issues dominating the media today, but he doesn’t parrot a party line either. He at least has the balls to visit an issue that most comedians won’t touch with a barge pole. Teetering close on the edge, but not quite slipping over, he flirts with the possibility of career suicide.
His nonce jokes land better. Then he goes onto hilarious jokes about actual suicide. The kind of comedy I know the working class to particularly enjoy, this is pitch black humour, but clearly coming from a place of love. And the jokes elicit love. Perhaps bonding artist and audience because we feel like we are all doing something naughty together, like bunking off school.
Now held by an atmosphere of comradery, Elliot highlights the fact that men are statistically more likely to commit suicide. Sharing personal stories and experiences around mental health, he explains that some of his nearest and dearest cope best with trauma through the medium of gallows humour. Describing bonding situations that some may misunderstand as toxically masculine.
Masculinity and what it means to be a man is a strong theme of the show. He speaks with passion when he talks about watching the UFC and his practice of martial arts for fitness. Describing in grotesque detail the health complications that followed an accident when wrestling. This story is so gory, it recently resulted in a woman in his audience fainting. He has now inserted a trigger warning.
The jokes are dark, but the energy of the room is light. The laughs are big, because his comedy is brilliant. He’s been doing this since he was 16 and has become excellent at his craft, demonstrating feline instincts and razor sharp wit to make quick light when outside noise interrupts the show.
The show is well structured with clever call backs peppered throughout. The narrative arc builds to the sharing of a very personal and dramatic experience. Elliot reveals his vulnerability in a way that is not designed to elicit sympathy but demonstrates how love works in mysterious ways, ways which are not always politically correct. When we think he has pushed us to the edge, he pushes it even further which results in applause breaks.
Such free flowing humour is refreshing. Audiences are bored of the bland and safe comedy being pushed by TV execs. We’re gripped as Eliliot describes what it’s like to take cocaine with an Iraq war veteran, before bringing the show to a satisfying ending tying themes of masculinity and generational conflict together.
If you want to laugh wildly at what some would say are inappropriate topics for jest, get insight into the conflicted psyche of a young man, or support an artist who is at risk of being cancelled by the thought police, this show is for you!
Samantha Pressdee
Mumble Comedy 