TO be dubbed ‘trying’ by local hacks the length and breadth of the country, obviously never crossed Josie Long’s mind.
Including such a tempting word in the title of your nationwide tour is a big risk.
Having read the glowing reviews of the If.com best newcomer award winner, I had visions of a Russell Brand like dandy who pondered all the bizarre things we find in the world.
The night started well enough, and my expectations were being met with a few laugh out loud intros about her grandparents’ Facebook pages going from granddad has 87 friends to granddad has 84 friends; and Enid has changed her status from “In a relationship”, Enid has changed her status from “Alive”.
But after a terrible warm up set by her Aussie mate Michael Williams, it became obvious that her kooky indie hipster persona meant the night was going to be more rambling through mildly amusing anecdotes and observations than telling any laugh out loud gags.
Her delivery, while sporadically funny, did have me thinking it was more a motivational speech than an entertaining piece of humour.
What seemed like an eccentric show and tell for adults, just got weirder and weirder as Long revealed the strange works of art she had drawn on her belly with crayons, including a bizarre sketch of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (a great trier).
Never shy with a prop, satsumas were tossed to the crowd in a bid to quell hecklers and reward anyone ‘with a nice face’, and a laptop was used to project photos of strange people she had snapped on The Tube in London.
Trading on tales from her inner monologue, one of the only ironies I chuckled at was when I realised my inner monologue was telling me to leave.
So it turns out after all that Josie Long is trying, just a little bit too hard and at the wrong things.
