By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
VENUE:
Downtown Activity Centre
755 Pandora Ave.
Victoria, BC
PERFORMANCE DATES:
Aug 28 | 8:00 pm
Aug 29 | 6:15 pm
Sept 1 | 9:45 pm
Sept 2 | 6:15 pm
Sept 4 | 10:15 pm
Sept 5 | 2:00 pm
LENGTH: 60 minutes
Honestly, what can I say about Mike Delamont that I haven’t said before? This master of comedy has a quick wit and love for pop culture to make his show, God is a Scottish Drag Queen II, a joy to see. I reviewed the first version many years ago when it premiered at the 2011 Fringe. It’s reprinted below and what I said then still applies now to his wonderful stand up comedy act. Over the years, this institute of the Victoria theatrical entertainment scene has taken his act on the road and slips into the role (or should I say dress robes?) easily. He also answers why the show hasn’t emerged earlier; when Fringe selection happens by lottery, he had to wait until his submission was finally pulled out of the hat.
To have seen both shows about a ticked off God shows that there can be more than one Highlander-based act, the second film of this fantasy franchise world notwithstanding. God hilariously rips into the movie Noah and Michael Bay‘s treatment of everybody’s favourite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Not even local establishments, malls or navy bases in Victoria (or Canada) are safe. He does profess a love for certain items but they are few and far between. Audiences were cracking up at every fiery observance about spiritual / religious culture. I will have to point out that Adam and Eve’s third son, Seth, was not born until after Abel was slain by Cain. Either that reveal went by too fast for me to catch or it was missed.
To say too much about other set pieces will spoil the show and all I have to say is that this God needs a bigger stage so he can entertain the masses. The venue choice felt tiny. Can’t Intrepid Theatre book a church instead? Hopefully this God will approve as long as it doesn’t look like Skeletor’s Castle.
Originally posted on B Channel News:
If you bust a gut laughing too hard, God will save the day … in drag. Master comedian Michael Delamont (Atomic Vaudeville, and now independent) shows that he can command a room, totally become a different character in a heartbeat and spray you with his spit. That’s a good thing, because as God, it should be bottled, capped and turned into holy water.
His stand-up comedy act, God is a Scottish Drag Queen, is a great way to top off the Victoria Fringe Festival. And despite the venue’s tight spacing, it works in Delamont’s favour. You can see his frustration. The intimate setting only puts audiences mono-a-mono with the Almighty, Allah, Buddha, or whatever name they want to recognize him as.
From outside, pedestrians will no doubt wonder what’s going on in that tiny space known as Fort Café. In this particular space, everyone can hear you scream. That’s screaming out loud with laughter because of the spats God is having with the people of Earth, who is represented by the patrons of this show.
He descends to Earth in a simple garden-flowered dress and an attitude filled with forlorn, and it’s sidesplittingly hysterical. There are jokes for everyone. The diversity of what he needs to warn people of Earth about range from set routines, like his opening act showing just how mundane he felt when Earth was created (Genesis), his affair with “Mary,” to improvised moments, like the iPhone. He talks about just how bad cell phone culture is, but he also rips into all kinds of pop culture. Nothing is missed out.
Delamont is at his best when improvising. At the other times, whatever he interjects in the routine when the audience tries to heckle or out-do, is the parts worth paying attention to. He goes with the flow and works that person into his routine. This man is quick, and he has no problems calling someone “Nerd,” “Geek,” or say, “You can’t do that in my show. I’m the only one who can bless you.”
Profanity is to be expected in this act, and the raunchiness he pulls off only puts him in the same caliber as Billy Connolly. Not even ruining his punch line can stop his manic pace. At the end of the show, audiences can’t help but wonder just how much water Delamont needs to consume just to replenish his bodily fluids.
You need the energy of a God to be standing after a 75-minute show. Delamont reveals that he’s taking the show on the road. He even hints at taking the act back to Victoria in 2012. If you can’t catch his performance this year, there’s always next.
