Laurence Clark: Inspired

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Laurence Clark suffers from cerebal palsy, but whatever you do, don't call the fact he's doing an hour of standup "inspirational." Coming at his condition from a surprisingly fresh angle, Clark rails against the fact that, just because he's ill-equipped to do many activities, people tend to think everything he does is in some way inspiring. 

The fact that his timing and delivery is so affected by his condition, everything rests on the quality of his writing which, for the most part, more than holds up this hour of slides, videos and various musings on the theme at hand.  Though some of his material is fairly old hat—Paris Hilton is hardly a cutting edge target, same with digs at Eton poshboys—he has a way with acerbic one-liners that often adds an unexpected bite to the set.

The intermittent video clips are inspired (NOT inspirational...) showing Clark, for example, going around London telling people doing mundane things how inspirational they are, or as a study of how afraid the general public are of simply chatting to him, just because he's in a wheelchair, work especially well (although the latter is a bit too long) 

As Clark requests input as to what is inspiring and what isn't—the audience reaction becomes more honest and less patronising—especially considering he neatly rubbishes his achievements. Bungee jumping is hardly difficult for someone "who falls over all the time anyway." But these things are inspiring in and of themselves, regardless of who it is doing them and he manages to round off the hour avoiding the usual sentimental claptrap. A solid hour with a strong message.