UK Edition
Review
Jazz Emu, Soho Theatre: A deliciously silly hour from Britain’s finest young musical comedian
What this show lacks in precision, it makes up for in party atmosphere – Jazz Emu is a marvellous comic creation
“My utter lack of ego is godlike,” croons Jazz Emu – voice of an angel, mind of an idiot – as he barges past a meek keyboardist to elbow his way into the spotlight.
For a deliciously silly hour, we are transported from a cramped and seedy Soho basement to the Royal Albert Hall – and its cramped and seedy basement.
For this is where the world’s pre-eminent jazz-funk-pop star is preparing for his set at the Royal Variety Performance. There’s no room upstairs: Kelly Clarkson, his nemesis, has pinched the stage for her soundcheck. The stakes are high: can he impress the King, and thus beat Clarkson to the knighthood? (In this surreal universe, there’s only ever one knighthood up for grabs; if it doesn’t go to him, the alternative is Sir Kelly.)
If there is a better musical comedy act in the country right now, I’ll eat my disco ball. Dreamt up by young ex-Footlight Archie Henderson, Jazz Emu is a marvellous comic creation – a monster of vanity and hubris, insecurity bubbling under the surface.
Every detail serves the louche, retro-naff aesthetic, from his appalling flared trousers, to his sub-Jarvis Cocker dance moves, to his unplaceable accent (a Eurovision announcer’s Scandi-RP).
The real joke is the musicianship, which is superb. These tunes are far better than they have any need to be, and wildly mismatched to their tongue-twistingly unhip lyrics (one song, for instance, sets a spam email to music). I’m Still Waiting may be about watching the old DVD logo slowly bump from one side of the TV screen to another, but in a better world it would be jostling up against The Weeknd in the pop charts.
His meticulously polished 2022 solo show was a revelation. If this follow-up falls a whisker short of matching it – here, the knighthood framing device feels more thrown-together than the previous show’s bonkers plotline – what it lacks in precision it makes up for in party atmosphere.
Because this time, Jazz has an entourage: a groovy four-piece backing band in sequinned Sergeant Pepper jackets called The Cosmique Perfectión (tiny, pompous details like that acute accent are everywhere). The playing is on point, though it wouldn’t have hurt to have given them a little more comic business.
Other friends pop in, too: there’s a cameo from Sam Campbell as “Eggerson Keaveney” in a music video for a song of that name (a stone-cold banger), while US comedian Courtney Pauroso provides the voice of Siri in Jazz’s ongoing arguments with his smartphone.
Fans – who are legion, as 20 million Spotify streams prove – will recognise most of the hour’s songs, and many of the accompanying videos, projected upstage, which inevitably dampens their comic impact a little. It’s a challenge for any comedian churning out “content” in 2024: why hold back good material for a stage show in a month’s time, when you can post it online to millions tomorrow? Still, when the songs are this good, such questions are drowned beneath the funky bass-lines.
Until June 22, then at the Edinburgh Fringe Jul 31-Aug 25, and touring the UK from Feb 17. Details: jazzemu.com