Nathan Cassidy: The Frog That Says Sausages

‘Things I must not joke about at the Royal Variety Performance,’ reads a dry-wipe board in a near-empty corner of the Caves, and under that, ‘Josef Fritzl’. Cue Nathan Cassidy disguised as the Austrian monster, wheeling out a gag that hasn’t been fresh for two years. He might misleadingly promise the ‘most offensive joke ever’ but his self-satisfied shock tactics soon turn to a sheepish desperation that creates more discomfort than any innuendo about Raoul Moat or Kerry Katona. Cassidy has to realise that genuine shock requires some degree of creativity – just because it wouldn’t pass the censors, it doesn’t make it any less dull.