Boyle has mellowed over the years. But, thank goodness, not too much. Any set that touches on cancer, paedophilia, necrophilia and a nazi is going to have some shock factor. But Frankie's smart enough not to use these moments to offend, but to make his points more sharply. There are a lot of people in the world doing bad things to other people, and the rimsinder doesn't go amiss.
This is no polemic though. Boyle is hilarious. Time after time the punchlines hit home with the rapidity of Tim Vine or Gary Delaney, but far more depth. This is a man who, from his own oblique viewpoint, cares about our society. And just how fucked up it's become. Few targets get spared. While tories and other right wingers (deservedly) form the bulk of his targets, Starmer, Sturgeon and Biden all feature too.
What impresses most is the visual imagery. In a few words Frankie paints his subject as a grotesque caricature, and constantly hits the bulls eye. Who could be the person who looks like they masturbate to pictures of new builds? It has to be Truss... It's these surreal, imaginative syntheses that hit home hardest, riducule by word fusion, and remid you how original a mind is lurking behind the couldn'tgiveatoss stage persona.
Wonderful stuff.
Frankie Boyle, Lap of Shame, is on in the Assembly Rooms until the 18th (but is already sold out!).
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