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ED2023 Comedy Reviews ED2023 Reviews
Martin Urbano: Apology Comeback Tour
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 21 August 2023
In the cancel culture of 2023, you can’t joke about anything anymore. Except of course you can. Indeed, the rules haven’t really changed: politically incorrect jokes are still game in the age of woke providing it’s clear that the target is the politically incorrect opinion and the person that holds it. The challenge is finding a format where that rule can be adhered to, but the shock value that makes offensive comedy so entertaining is retained. Martin Urbano fully meets that challenge, casting himself as the ultimate asshole, a cancelled comedian in the middle of a non-apology apology comeback. He stays in character throughout, but subtly acknowledges that he shouldn’t be saying these things any more than we should be laughing at them, before making the asshole he’s portraying more overtly the target at the show’s conclusion. It’s a performance that should cancel those who claim that cancel culture is cancelling comedy.
Pleasance Courtyard, until 27 Aug.
tw rating 5/5 | [Chris Cooke]
