one4review | On 09, Aug 2025

It is not surprising that Andrew O’Neill, a glam, sometime guitar
wielding, nonbinary, tattooed, entry level middle class, anarchist
comedian would as a child have been desperate to escape from their
picturesque but narrowminded home town on the far edge of London, where
simply dressing in black elicited derision.

With Escape as the show title, it soon becomes clear that this exuberant
laughfest is indeed our direction of travel, when Andrew gets the
audience quickly and loudly onside, causing explosions of guffaws and
much laughter during explorations of conspiracy theories and the
proposition of anarchy for escape.  These recurring themes are
interspersed with expositions about the benefits derived from access to
nature and wilderness, counterbalanced by Andrew’s wrath and despair at
the tiresome soullessness of much of the media and George Ezra.

There is humour throughout while Andrew emphatically advances the
concept of Citizens Assembly and direct action with the inherent
pleasure of being surrounded by like minds, and teases us with the idea
of taking direct action against the costly AirBnB’s that fill the city
centre by judicious applications of superglue to the multiplicity of
ugly key boxes – what an intriguing thought for this Oasis weekend that
resulted in many potential performers and Fringegoers being priced out.

Andrew is persuasive that neurodivergent nerds are changing the world,
with which by this point the entire audience is gleefully in agreement.

It takes a clever comedian who understands their art to be able to
deliver political ideas that are outside the norm, as loudly enjoyable,
yet seriously thought provoking entertainment.

****

Reviewed by HJ

Monkey Barrel – Cabaret Voltaire

19.10 (1hr)

Until 24 (not 13 or 20)