Tweets. Whether you’re a madly tweeting Millennial yourself or conversely know nothing about this recent phenomenon, Sanjay Patel’s comedy set is accessible across the ages. Sanjay delivers his description of not only the good features of tweeting, but also its downside or problematic aspects, in a mild and geeky manner that is not without some charm. 

It’s heartening to hear comedy on topics broader than sex or being mean about people, and is instead about tweeting, for example what ‘liking’ is, or ‘hashtags’ or ‘pile-ons’, and they are wackily linked to other often completely unrelated analogies to droll effect.

Sanjay’s delivery has promise, as he presents himself as a dorky, geeky nerd with a mild obsession about tweeting in general, and his own in particular. His awkwardness is, however, real and while it might be described as deadpan, it needs more intelligent articulation convince us that he has substance enough behind his characterisation to carry the set through. In order for the audience to be more captivated by him, and in an anachronistic twist, he needs more confidence to carry off his confidence-less character.

His gags exhibit an appreciation of the humorous situation but need to be further developed from the anecdotes that they often are, into full-fledged gags with hearty punch lines. For example, his Rarotonga story, which I believe is real, is an interesting anecdote that could become a great story, if he is not too scared to embellish it with some sort of believable exaggeration.

Also his re-telling of jokes at the end of his show should, on second telling, include either an extension of each joke with another, better joke to cap it off, or otherwise be deleted from the set. Hearing those jokes simply repeated does not improve them.

The one noticeably entertained man who laughs raucously throughout the set contrasts significantly with the rest of the audience, who are on Sanjay’s side but are largely underwhelmed by the end of the show.   

As only the occasional gag is firmly rooted in adolescent boy humour, with more attention to story-telling construction, thoughtful articulation and wit, Sanjay could turn this good premise of discussing tweets into a great outcome. 

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