Will Durst: BoomeRaging From LSD to OMG

We are all getting old. Some of us are going gracefully, and others are doing it the Will Durst style.

Durst has been on the road in the States doing comedy for longer than some of the audience has been alive. This leaves his target market at the senior end of the spectrum. That said he knows that market well and caters to them precisely.

He is an old school comic talking about the good old days, and he employs a lot of good old jokes to do this. What is new and refreshing is that he doesn’t try to change his act for the UK crowd. He uses American colloquialisms and phrases and knows we will all be able to keep up.

Durst patrols the stage like a desperate used car salesman looking for laughs rather than sales, exhorting reaction from the crowd with each emphatic gesture. Irritatingly he doesn’t take his microphone with him on these frequent wanders. Minutes at a time are spent straining to hear. When he does return to the mic the sudden increase in volume does wake up the crowd. If this could be timed to coincide with the punch line it might have great impact.  

Although he dislikes the term, this show is for senior citizens, the baby boomer generation. All the humour is about the past and some of the jokes are golden oldies too. If an evening of nostalgia sounds good then Durst might impress – if you can hear him.