This is quite a different Tez from the one we last saw at the Rondo, in the years BC (Before Covid).
He looks different, sounds different; is even a different shape, having put on a lot of pandemic pounds (as has this critic).
Clearly, he’s got a lot to get off his chest after nearly two years of Covid-induced professional idleness.
It shows: the performance is twice the length of a normal (normal?) stand-up set, as he paces furiously about the stage, much shoutier, swearier, angrier and generally more in-yer-face than before. But is he still funny? Oh, God, yes.
He targets anything and anybody, including the odd audience member, with many re-iterations of “f*ck off!”; victims including anything about lockdown; clapping for the NHS; why black people aren’t interested in skiing (too white); followed later by why he nevertheless went skiing (hated it); the acronym BAME; what’s wrong with Conservatism and why old folks like it; and much, much more on British life for people of all colours.
But none of the relentless but well-pointed ranting has any genuine malice, and the gags come thick and fast, expertly timed and unfailingly hilarious. He bids fair to be a National Treasure.
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Reviewer: John Christopher Wood | Star rating: ****
