Irish comedian Vittorio Angelone came in to his double bill of Norwich Playhouse shows with two unexpected items in the bagging area: a live TV bust up with sword-carrier extraordinaire Penny Mordaunt and a hairline fracture of his ankle.
And in tribute to the many legal disclaimers during Angelone’s set, I should stress the two are not in any way connected.
The main set is a very personal exploration, leaning heavily on Angelone’s (lack of) experience of the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland (he was born two years before the Good Friday Agreement), and the long shadow of sectarianism. He wears most of it lightly – talking about how everything is designated either Protestant or Catholic, even down to sport. Basketball, despite the orange ball, is for some reason assigned to the Holy See.
He draws parallels with the ongoing conflict in Gaza, musing on the tendency for artists – not always entirely productively – to get drawn into overtly public politics; an arts festival is criticised for being sponsored by Barclays due to its links with Israel, only for a charity to ask for the proceeds of a pro-Palestinian benefit gig to be paid into an account with the very same bank.
The serious undertones are punctured by a drip feed of gags: the most evil thing in the IDF arsenal is sponsoring unskippable YouTube ads; it’s one thing for Israeli settlers to take homes in the West Bank, its another not to even live in them but rent them on AirBnB; boycotts are fine until they threaten your favourite ice cream.
These dark barbs are said with a twinkle but it’s apparent Angelone is wary of being taken at face value, with an extended riff on a previous negative Guardian review. He also takes umbrage at a venue for cancelling a show to an apparently misunderstood social media post on Irish nationalism.
The need to be liked, and a slightly languid delivery (perhaps not helped by medication tonight), stops the energy of the set really fizzing over. Perhaps more cynical than ‘ra-ra’ after all.
- Vittorio Angelone: You can’t say nothing any more is touring nationally.
