Shazia Mirza
***
Simon Munnery
****
If Shazia Mirza was any more understated one would barely notice that she had come on stage. This intelligent Anglo-Asian has some attention-grabbing gags but prefers to undersell them rather than force them down her audience’s throats.
A Portrait Of Shazia Mirza, which premiered in Edinburgh last year, feels oddly like a work in progress. The self-mocking storyteller explains that the show’s title was inspired by seeing her picture in the National Portrait Gallery next to Nelson Mandela in a People Of The Decade exhibition. What next, she wonders: "Paris Hilton next to Gandhi?" An incident like this could be the take-off point for a monologue about the corrosive power of modern celebrity. Instead it is the cue for various random observations on familiar subjects ranging from Ryanair and Facebook to Heather Mills. Every now and again one gets a tantalising glimpse of what this set could have been, but frustratingly it has punchlines but little punch.
Simon Munnery’s delivery is also decidedly understated but his offbeat approach suits his quirky patter. This show revisits old hits — teaching his children that cabbage is the food of tigers or hilariously placing himself in a Venn diagram between comedy and art — and mixes them with newer material.
While Mirza covers well-trodden terrain, this scruffy clown revels in obscurity. Jokes about Socrates and Darwin may not be topical but like a stand-up Simon Schama he makes the cerebral accessible. He is also very pithy on Richard Dawkins, though Dawkins routines are becoming as commonplace as Stephen Hawking impressions. If he rambled less and ironed his shirt he could rival Stewart Lee for comedy elder statesman status. Yet even Munnery meandering beats many trying their hardest.
Mirza until 14 Feb/Munnery until 7 Feb
(020 7478 0100, www.sohotheatre.com) .
Shazia Mirza/Simon Munnery
Soho Theatre
21 Dean St, London, W1D 3NE
