This show was inspired by a fart on an aeroplane, and Pitcher blows a lot of hot air on stage, but it’s not as puerile as it sounds.  Instead, Idiot Wind is a maelstrom of wit, incoherent at times but with enough lift and bluster to keep us airborne throughout.

Pitcher conjures Billy Connelly in his delivery.  He has the same bewildered bravado, the same tendency to distraction, the same knack for hysterically non-linear storytelling.  Often he returns to the topic at hand (I went to Countdown…) only to launch into yet another chaotic tangent, repeating the cycle over and over until the main thread of the story is so frayed that it simply evaporates.

He moves about onstage as if tugged and buffeted by crazy gusts, as well.  He rocks from foot to foot, leaping and hopping about the place with a flustered, indignant look on his face.  One moment he is distracted by the fairy lights hung from the ceiling to spruce up the dismal venue, the next he is crawling around the back wall of the stage, making a semi-coherent but very funny allusion to The Shawshank Redemption.

On Wednesday night we were treated to about half an hour of Al Pitcher Unplugged, as the microphone volume was down so low as to be unnoticeable and the ‘sound guy’ had wandered off.  Pitcher overplayed his consternation to great effect and perhaps his show was even the better for it, not to mention for the ‘weird’ Wellington hecklers that seemed to be out in force.  One guy in the front row claimed to be an Elvis impersonator and kept offering Pitcher hot chips from his bowl – either drunk, stoned, or just suffering from delusions about his own hilarity.  Pitcher let him have his moments but kept on top, stirring the interjections into a more general sense of confusion.

At times the scrambled frequencies on display simply don’t connect, but Pitcher keeps up the pace and leaves dead threads behind without compunction.   He presents a sympathetic persona onstage, full of astute observations about everyday idiocy without resorting to bullying tactics.  Apart from his closing gag, but then Elvis really had it coming to him.
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title at the top of this review. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News.  

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer