Mike Wozniak: Take The Hit

It’s the downtrodden self-styled “King of Showbusiness” whom fantastically-moustached Englishman Mike Wozniak introduces in this character-comedy come standup piece. An end-of-the-pier-style 70s-throwback in a crumpled tux, floppy bow-tie and ruffled shirt stood against a sparkly curtain backdrop, he promises a dazzling “show”, which he will get around to performing eventually, honest. Just once he’s done bitching about his mother-in-law.

Mother-in-law – words that creak from a comedian’s lips like the hinges on the coffin of Jim Davidson’s career. But Wozniak’s loathing for his wife’s mum—who recently moved into his house, driving him mad with her inane anecdotes for every occasion—is steeped in irony.

His physical comedy is hilariously evocative – be it bashing the mic off his face as a measure of his tormentor’s habit of standing annoyingly too close when she speaks, or his impression of a disorientated police horse in traffic. His observational stuff rings true but always with brilliantly skewed perspective. The stand-off with a H&M worker over sexualised pictures of kids in adverts leaves you at once admiring his forthrightness and cringing at his lack of tact.

The “show” of course never actually materialises – Wozniak’s been too distracted by you-know-who to write one. Once that realisation dawns early-on, the format begins to feel slightly rigid and predictable, and for all its consistency none of the material quite hits the jackpot. But for a midday show, the mood in the room is improbably giddy, and if the “King of Showbusiness” is a character Wozniak intends to develop further, then his arrival is warmly welcomed. Unlike poor mother-in-law.