Another of these shows that were postponed due to the presence of RAAC lurking at the theatre, this is (at least) the third time that Phil Wang has played the Royal and Derngate, but, shamefully, only the first time we’ve seen him. A familiar face on Have I Got News For You and similar TV treats, does he spin the same comedy gold that he shares on television? All will be revealed…
But first, the warm-up act, and the imposing figure and voice of Ed Night; new to us, and he looks like he’s probably about 15 but awfully tall for his age. In fact he’s been doing comedy for ten years and has already had four Edinburgh shows – and you can tell the confidence and experience. He clearly has a very fast brain and the ability to connect well with the audience. It was a shame, then, that he started his set with some very dubious material about mental health and an old joke about OCD that didn’t appeal to me at all and also didn’t hit home with the crowd. However, as he warmed up, so did his material and I loved his observations about Scooby Doo and the way he completely abandoned his prepared material to investigate the presence of three shiny bald heads in the front row. There’s a lot of good comedy in Mr Night – he just needs to ditch the iffy stuff.
On to the main event, and Wang in There Baby, Phil Wang’s most recent tour show that started last March and just has one more airing on 23rd February at London’s Eventim Apollo, no less. Performing in front of unfurled, Chinese-influenced, banner flags artistically announcing his name, his quiet unassuming style and relaxed physical presence lull us all into a sense of security – not a false sense, as Mr Wang never leads us down surprise garden paths or tricks us into believing something that he then proves to be untrue. You sense he’s a truly honest performer!
He’s excellent at contrasting the two cultures that he knows about – his Malay/Chinese upbringing on the island of Borneo, and the southern English teenage years and adulthood that followed. He’s also a choice wordsmith; developing very cleverly prepared sequences with le mot juste for every occasion. This allows him to tackle some quite challenging subjects but always with delicacy and lightness of touch: no better example than his singing along to Kendrick Lamar hip-hop tracks replacing the n-word with something more suitable.
Phil Wang’s gift is to take a genuinely tiny idea and expand it into something hilarious for a prolonged exploration. For him, big oaks truly do grow from little acorns. The simple observation that Brits don’t reheat rice, for instance, flourishes into a good fifteen minutes’ worth of classic cultural comedy. There’s a brilliant examination of how the contrast between British and American pronunciation of the same word can have a joyfully funny effect. At his best, Mr W is a great example of the less is more approach to comedy, and that’s often quite hard to find. And whilst I wouldn’t exactly call it a family show, it’s very refreshing to come across a comedy performer who rarely goes anywhere near a swear word.
Having seen him once, I’m sure this won’t be the last time!