Sajeela Kershi
Sal Stevens
Sally-Anne Hayward
Sam Avery
Sam Gore
Sam Harland
Sam Simmons
Sam Veale
Sandi Toksvig
Sandy Nelson
Sara Pascoe
Sarah Campbell
Sarah Hendrickx
Sarah Kendall
Sarah Ledger
Sarah Millican
Sarah Silverman
Scooby
Scott Agnew
Scott Capurro
Sean Collins
Sean Grant
Sean Hughes
Sean Lock
Sean McLoughlin
Sean Meo
Sean Moran
Sean Percival
Seann Walsh
Seymour Mace
Shappi Khorsandi
Sharon Mahoney
Sharon Mannion
Shaun Paczkowski
Shaun Pye
Shazia Mirza
Shelagh Martin
Silky
Simon Amstell
Simon B Cotter
Simon Bird
Simon Bligh
Simon Clayton
Simon Donald
Simon Evans
Simon Farnaby
Simon Feilder
Simon Fox
Simon Gunnell
Simon Munnery
Smug Roberts
Snorri Hergill Kristjansson
Sody Funjabi
Sol Bernstein
Sooz Kempner
Sophie Black
Special guest who cannot be named
Spencer Brown
Spike Milligan
Spiky Mike
Stan Stanley
Stanley Baxter
Stanley McHale
Stefano Paolini
Steph Davies
Stephen Carlin
Stephen Grant
Stephen Hill
Stephen K Amos
Stephen Lynch
Stephen Merchant
Steve Best
Steve Coogan
Steve Day
Steve Furst
Steve Gribbin
Steve Hall
Steve Harris
Steve Hughes
Steve Jameson
Steve McGrew
Steve N Allen
Steve Pemberton
Steve Rawlings
Steve Shanyaski
Steve Weiner
Steve Williams
Steven Young
Stewart Francis
Stewart Lee
Stewart Spaull
Stu Who?
Stuart Black
Stuart Goldsmith
Stuart Hudson
Sue Perkins
Sully O'Sullivan
Susan Calman
Susan Hanks
Susan Morrison
Susan Murray
Susan Vale
Suzy Bennett
Sy Thomas
Sam Simmons
Sam Simmons: Fail |
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Well-established absurdist Sam Simmons’s new show packs in the gags, stories and overall weirdness so densely it feels almost claustrophobic. There’s little chance to catch your breath as he relentlessly drives forward with wave after wave of intense material, layered on to music, slides and voiceovers and so rich with callbacks and other physical flourishes that it requires all your concentration to keep up. At the end of this performance, at least, an apparently frustrated Simmons sought reassurance that we’d enjoyed it – fearing that he’d ‘weirded us out’ with his surreal nonsense. In truth, we were probably just punch drunk on the intense content, we needed a moment for it to all settle in. The show’s title might be an open goal for reviewers, but in fact refers to the dark day earlier this year when he feared his whole life was a failure. His girlfriend of two and half years had left him, he was down to his last $14 and sharing a flat with a middle-aged alcoholic. At 32, he owned nothing and feared he had achieved the same, so when he dropped a Sellotape dispenser on his foot, it was the last straw. Suicidal thoughts started to ferment. At last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, Kim Noble mined similar thoughts for a bleak, disturbing examination of depression. Here, the tone is much lighter, and the conclusion more uplifting – after all, Simmons did eventually discover his own reasons to be cheerful. But that’s not before he expresses his fury at the world in spleen-venting invective, ranting against anything from the broad ‘babies’ to the worryingly specific ‘men over 32 flying kites on the beach’. Whatever the target, though, the rage is compelling. Then there are the game show interludes, in which Simmons answers surreal questions set by his own internal quizmaster, a fast-paced series of impossible-to-answer brainteasers that wouldn’t be out of place in Reeves and Mortimer’s Shooting Stars, if the warped British show made it down under. Then there are the fantastical stories of ants, popcorn and skateboarders, read from a pile of sizeable tomes littering the stage. It’s an hour-long onslaught all right, and frequently hilarious, especially in those bizarre question rounds. Other sections can be more baffling, while the full-on density of the material offers little chance of a relaxing chuckle, even if there is so much going on here, there’s bound to be something you like. A precise but powerful performance adds another layer of comedy – as if the show needed it – from Simmons’s exaggerated physicality. Not a fail, by any measure. |
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Date of live review: Sunday 4th Apr, '10 | |
Review by Steve Bennett |
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Saturday 14th Aug, '10- | |
Sam Simmons: Problems - Fringe 2009
Sunday 23rd Aug, '09- | |
Show - Melbourne 2008 - Saturday 5th Apr, '08- | |
Show - Melbourne 2007 - | |
Sunshine Factory, Part Two
Show - Melbourne 2006 - |
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Sam Simmons' Tales From The Erotic Cat
Edinburgh Fringe 2009
Sam Simmons: Problems
Edinburgh Fringe 2010
The Incident
Sam Simmons: Fail
Melbourne 2006
Sunshine Factory, Part Two
Melbourne 2007
Sam Simmons: The Sex And Science Of Boredom
Melbourne 2008
Sam Simmons: Where Can I Win A Bear Around Here?