Empire Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness,  15 March 2012

RICH HALL’s genius for being grumpy was much in evidence as the dead pan comedian took to the stage at Eden Court.

HE HAS developed his irascible bad temper into an art form that fits perfectly with his laid back southern drawl.  He delivers his act with the air of mid west gas station attendant who is barely able to hide his irritation as  his customers keep him back from watching the ball game on TV.

Rich Hall, but no Uncle Otis

There is something instantly endearing about his casual stage presence that seems to invite the audience to pick up a beer, and sit down on Hall’s front porch with him, as he rails on the state of America today.  Hall’s genius is in highlighting the absurd and the ironic in life and in this he is hilarious.

When he was twelve years old his drunken father gave him a Rogers’s Thesaurus which was rather a disappointment to the young Rich who was hoping for a baseball bat.   Clearly that was a gift that took root as, in common with many comedians, Hall’s love of language and joy in playing with it are immediately apparent.

In his book, Magnificent Bastards, he relates how he memorized long and difficult words and used them as a defence against bullies at school. That must have given him some idea of the power of words for he certainly used them effectively on Thursday night.

The second half of his show was in marked contrast to the first as, rather than being pure stand up, it was a musical performance where he displayed his talents as guitar player and a singer with two musicians in support.  Here he displayed great skill in seamlessly blending his encounters with audience members into pre-rehearsed material making it look spontaneous.

In the audience was a Fisheries Officer who Hall managed to create a song for and he also sang an incredibly clever improvised song about the IT worker in the audience. Oh, hang on, isn’t there always an IT worker in the audience?  There was a nurse he sang about, too – perhaps that was also a first, it’s hard to tell.

I was disappointed that Hall did not bring his alter ego, Otis Lee Crenshaw, on to the stage in the second half.  Otis, Hall’s uncle, has been married seven times, all of his wives being called Brenda. It was his portrayal of Otis that won him the Perrier and brought first him acclaim in the UK.

An audience member asked if Otis was coming on and Hall explained that gluing on the beard was giving him a rash and that, after all, Otis was just him with some false hair. I thought that a fairly lame excuse. That’s a little like the actor who plays Darth Vader turning up out of costume and saying, “Well it’s only me in a hat.”

As Otis himself might say, “Shoot, 800 people turn up and pay £20 a pop to watch you drag your sorry ass across the stage and you can’t even glue on a beard.”  Perhaps that’s a little unfair – it might have been a very bad rash. It’s just that I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to see Otis again. Also, Otis not appearing made this review more difficult write, since if he had turned up I’d have had two people to write about rather than one.

Another of Hall’s achievements is that the character Moe, the bar owner in the Simpsons, is based on him. That surely is as fast a route into immortality as it’s possible to get.  When we are all long gone Hall will live on, serving Duff beer to Homer.  How many of us can boast something like that? Mind you, Miles Jupp, the comedian who played Archie the Inventor in Balamory, has a doll based on him.  That’s a bit like having your own statue, only better, because it’s smaller and you can dress it up.

Eden Court on Friday night was packed with only two empty seats in the theatre.  Hall was consistently funny throughout the night and it was clear that he had a huge catalogue of material to draw on and could adapt to any crowd.  Frequently he would tease the audience and allow the dark side of his character to emerge only to win the audience instantly back, when he was on the brink of taking them over the edge, with his impish grin.

Hall’s home is in America although his numerous TV appearances, on shows like QI, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Have I Got News For You, must keep him in the UK for the
majority of the time.  Comedians like Hall and, in a similar way, Reginald D Hunter, enrich the UK comedy circuit and have achieved a lasting popularity in the UK. They have a place here perhaps because, coming from a country we all feel we know so well, they can portray aspects of the USA with which we can identify.  As far as I’m aware there is no similar trade in UK comedians touring the United States.

Despite missing out on Otis, Hall himself is a larger than life character and his ironic humour was always bang on target, providing a hugely entertaining night for the Eden Court audience.  I hope Hall returns to the Highlands and, if he does, be sure you don’t miss him, whether he brings his uncle or not.

© John Burns, 2012

Links

• John Burns

In common with many other American stand ups Hall has chosen
to spend much of his time in the UK where he ca