Reviewed on Thursday October 16 as part of Just For Laughs Sydney
Reggie Watts defies clarification. Oh, he’s a musical comedian? But he’s talking a lot. Now he’s balancing a piano stool on his head. Wait, now he’s climbing through the audience and interviewing the empty seats. Now he’s doing another song? BRAIN EXPLOSION.
Comedy, music and performance art collide onstage as the multi-talented Watts leads the audience on a stream-of-consciousness trip through his thick afro and into his mind. We’re on Watts time.
The crowd is prepared for dynamic shifts of tone thanks to the stellar work of opening musical act, Genevieve Fricker. All smiles and cyanide, Fricker delivers darkness with a dose of faux-sweetness, whipping the crowd into hysterics. No sooner has she left the stage does Reggie Watts shamble on, without introduction.
Looking surprised to find himself onstage, Watts launches into an “introduction”. It’s a monologue that begins in a flawless Australian accent, before morphing through several British, American and gibberish dialects. The subject of the speech also moves in and out of sense. Any attempt to follow it leads to mind-numbing confusion. It is pure absurdism. The audience is alive with laughter. And then he starts the music.
Oh, the music. Reggie Watts is known primarily for his improvised hip hop jams. And for good reason. Armed only with a loop pedal, a keyboard and his earth-shattering voice, Watts creates fully formed oddball songs that somehow make you laugh uncontrollably.
Maybe it’s his nonsense lyrics, such as in the blissed-out neo-soul ‘song’ that ironically negs organic food in favour of highly processed sugars, and carries the sing-along refrain “Diabetics are cool”.
Maybe you’re laughing at his clowny dance moves. Part B-boy, part mine. Maybe it’s the non-sequiturs from song into Poe-esque poem. Best not question it. Just enjoy it. Just laugh. Just let him take charge.
Many comedians claim “no two shows are the same”, but in Watts’ case, this is completely accurate. He is an improviser and a madman, and no attempt to recreate what he does on any given night would be at all possible. You’re on Watts time now.
5/5 stars
