15 July 2010
www.tate.org.uk
Stand-up comedy meets high-art criticism in this very special one-off event presented by comedian Harry Hill and friends... this should have been brilliant - but!...
It promised to be a hilarious comedy romp through the archives of naughty British art... In reality it ended up as a badly organised farce, held together only by the comedians ad-lib banter. The format was unprofessional and had obviously not been rehearsed, or even discussed prior to the event... sloppy and unrewarding!
Saying that... the show did contain some gems. Gail Tuesday was playing it just like Babs Windsor in Carry on Nurse!, Harry Hill was acidic in his exchanges with Cedar and the hand knitted outfits of Edwina Ashton and friends were genius - as were their short vids... (see above)
Harry said... "I love comedy and I love art. The absurd is my area of expertise and it will be good to get the disparate strands under one roof, from Edward Lear to Spike Milligan to David Shrigley, plus a few surprises on the way. We have all laughed at art for one reason or the other, this time it will be for the right reasons!"
We plan to visit Rude Britannia: British Comic Art towards the end of this month - review to follow!
Cedar Lewisohn looses it with Harry Hill, Shawn Lock,
Gail Tuesday and Edwina Ashton!
5 out of 10 (-5 points deducted for sloppy organisation)
