Review: Tom Lawrinson: Buried Alive and Loving It

Tom Lawrinson | Photo by Drew Forsyth

Tom Lawrinson’s name is often preceded by ‘TikTok star’ or ‘social media comedian’, monikers not inaccurate when you consider the 130 million views and 300,000 followers he has earned for his self-described “wacky” sketches. But in Buried Alive and Loving It, Lawrinson proves his comedic chops are as well-developed off-screen as they are on. 

Structured largely around his relationship with his parents and the portion of his childhood spent living in an underground bedroom in Spain, this is a solid hour of stand-up where the laughs keep coming, sometimes from unexpected places. Relatable observations about retail price match promises and boomer dad behaviour are weaved effectively with less well-trodden ground and punchlines that come from left-field or are taken further than expected, all to great comedic effect.

Lawrinson is affable and engaging company, sustaining a genial everyman persona even when the material ventures into the lewd and the quirky. For someone who has made his name in edited shorts, he thrives in the unscripted, bantering ably with the crowd and raising laughs for his responses to moments as mundane as taking a sip of water or the sound of a door closing elsewhere in the venue. An easy stage presence and a natural comic, Lawrinson can surely be considered as accomplished a stand-up as he is a TikTok comedian.