Bob Slayer: He's a Very Naughty Boy

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If you like your standup slick, polished, well-written, with recurring themes and a moral lesson to take away with you, this show probably isn’t for you. If, however, you like it rambling, sometimes incoherent, full of dead ends, seemingly made up on the spot, and by an increasingly drunk comedian, then this might just be your thing. Does that sound appealing? The thing is, Bob Slayer carries it all off with such charm and generosity that his show works, even when it really shouldn’t.

There is a story behind it—of sorts—about Bob’s adventures in Australia after being banned in Perth (and in Norway). As his title suggests, he really can’t help getting himself into trouble. He promises to cover some of his story each show—apparently he’s only got a quarter of the way through it on previous evenings, so he’s decided to begin different evenings at different points. Which leaves a lot unexplained and misunderstood, but with his frequent diversions into totally unrelated subjects, it really doesn’t matter.

He’s good with his audience, picking on people mercilessly but with easy good nature. It’s hard to call what he does ‘material’ since it all seems made up on the spot, but a lot of it is quite self-referential and inward-looking (comics he loves and hates, critics’ star ratings), and his delivery is all over the place. If he can hang onto his warmth and likeability but come up with some stronger material, he’d be great instead of just good.