Ducking a month in Edinburgh for a 4 day stint in Camden means it's probably not worth working up a complete tight show but conversely the fresh performer should be bursting with creative beans at the prospect of 4 nights on in front of fledgling and unjaded audiences. Tony Law claims he thought about his show on the train between Highbury and Camden, but that's OK, because he's a great improv rambler who makes surreal leaps with edgy narrative and riffs terrifically off his audience.
Still, his gigs are usually a little more drunk and aggressive so it's quite different to see him confronted with a terribly polite and attentive bunch, dim lit, that it's really quite impossible to pick on. Instead, off he goes on a rant about Nandos which leads to a surreal monologue about rhythmically tapping a goat, or two dwarves, forays with accents and racist chicken and thence along into how to make a black bear fight a salmon-painted tiger shark in your back yard.
And at this point, Tony checks his watch and decides its time to end the show, remarking how time flies. It's testament to how much the crowd like him that they believe him as it's not until he's left the stage that we check the time and realise he's forgotten what time he started and has stiffed us by 20 minutes. Whether it was the (usual, incredible) heat in Etcetera or the lack of 2 weeks of warm up and preparation, it's a shame there wasn't a Fringe staffer on hand to poke him back into realtime.
So, if you catch one of his forthcoming 3 shows - and we recommend you do - keep your eye on the clock. And let us know who wins between the bear and the shark please.
Tony Law is at the Camden Head, Wednesday 19th, Thursday 20th and Sunday 23rd August at 8.45pm. Camden Fringe runs until 30th August. All tickets £7.50. Check out other Fringe coverage on Londonist.
