The League Against Tedium: I Am, I Will

Edinburgh Review: Meadows Theatre 

The Stage  10/08/2000 

ALISON FREEBAIRN 

It takes a brave or foolish man to tempt the fates the way Simon Munnery is doing in his new show.

He makes quite an entrance on the top of a customised Ford Transit, wielding a computer keyboard like a guitar. Framed by a fast-moving multimedia backdrop fizzing with lines and images, he proceeds to attack the Internet revolution in general and Bill Gates in particular.

Which is fine, apart from the fact that the fancy multimedia soundtrack his show is supported and linked by is running on Windows, which crashes halfway through the show. Munnery loses a chunk of his act while the system reboots.

Somewhere in Seattle, a multibillionaire is laughing like a drain.

He is not the only one.

Munnery is that rare find: a comic with a clear, pure vision of comedy, a writer who chooses his words with care, and a performer whose persona and timing combine to brilliant effect.

The quality of the writing is what sets The League Against Tedium above its peers. The lines are brilliant because so much thought has gone into the meaning of words, and the absurdity of pronunciation.

If you thought observational comedy was dead in the water, The League Against Tedium will make you look again.