Anil Desai

Tonight it seems to take Anil Desai a while to get into his stride. He misses a few prime opportunities for interaction with the audience, and a lot of his early material falls flat. When he gets going, though, his madcap show of impressions and standup hits some pretty hilarious peaks.

A few mediocre impressions are rounded out by some truly brilliant ones. His Tom Cruise, who speaks mostly in self-congratulatory laughs and egoistic whoops, reflects all the arrogance and unhinged nature of the superstar, while Stallone and Schwarzenegger are exceedingly macho. Though many of the jokes don’t work well, in particular his misjudged attempts at physical comedy, his knack for making a character instantly recognisable from just a few facial twitches and his ability to switch personas in the blink of an eye are impressive. As his routine progresses he seems to relax slightly and becomes more willing to engage with the audience.

After ending the show on a high note Desai drops the act and makes a very frank, deadly serious, confession to the audience about his personal life. It’s a gutsy move, but one likely to generate more empathy than derision.

The show could probably do with quite an edit, as there are a few duff jokes in here that should have been weeded out much earlier in the festival. But there’s certainly some talent on display in Hey, Impressions Guy!