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On The Graham Norton Show Jan 2010

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Russell Kane won the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2010, on his third time of being nominated, having scooper best newcomer in 2006.

His career started in 2004, when he won the Laughing Horse new act competition, and the following year he was nominated for best newcomer in the Chortle awards.

Russell Kane's Fakespeare: The Tragikal Saveings of King Nigel - Fringe 2009
Live Review

It might seem a formidable task, but stand-up Russell Kane rises to the challenge of being the new bard of Enfield with aplomb, even if the idea can’t run to a full hour – especially when a credit-crunched cast of just two limits the scope for variety and complexity.

Speaking of the recession, that’s Kane’s impetus for The Tragikal Saveings Of King Nigel; the story of a ruined City banker contemplating suicide as a more noble end than shopping at Lidl. If Shakespeare were writing today, as the cliché goes, this is surely the sort of subject he would be soliloquising about.

Though a capitalist, Nigellio, does have at least one scruple left; and the dilemma the troubled anti-hero faces is whether to abandon that final moral to start investing in landmines in Sudan to reverse his fortunes. The other option is ‘self-toppage’ with the noose around his neck. To talk him through the dilemma is his mistress/secretary, Donna Of Billericay, played by Kane’s real-life partner, Sadie Hasler, a sweet, simple but plain-talking foil.

In his class-conscious chip-on-his-shoulder stand-up persona, Kane would most likely condemn the idea of an updated take on Shakespeare as pretentious, especially if performed by middle-class actors. But if there’s potential for that, he niftily sidesteps it by not taking the endeavour too seriously, even if he does take great pride in using fancy words.

The punchlines may come in pentameter, but their targets are familiar: Jade Goody, Jordan, Michael Barrymore, Stephen Hawking, the ginger one from Girls’ Aloud. Yet the eloquence of dishing out the bad-taste gags in blank verse goes a long way, giving them more impact than any straightforward telling.

In his Fakespearean writing, Kane favours the simile as the best way of delivering these Heat-seeking jokes, and some are beautifully constructed, though the device is diminished by overuse. So when he varies the style - such as the playful sarcasm that pops up towards the end, it’s very welcome.

But the show is rather hampered by Edinburgh’s 60-minute convention: a half-hour version would compact the funnies to much better effect.

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Hilarous, and fit as fuck!

Daisyford, November 2010

Is it just me who thinks Russell Kane and Pete Firman are the same guy?

J, May 2010

He is not funny... at all

Smiler, January 2010

".... the strutting, preening physicality of his stage act serves no comedic purpose...." yeah, like Max Wall, Tommy Cooper and the like. Oh, wait a minute.... Fair enough, you didn't like the guy but maybe you need to be a tad more specific about his *material* for readers to afford this any weight over and above a simple "not for me".

MrC, December 2009

If people find him funny, they find him funny - but comedy genius he ain't. Watching him on Channel 4's Magners Brighton Festival, I thought he was irritating in the extreme. The strutting, preening physicality of his stage act serves no comedic purpose and the machine-gun delivery masks a paucity of material. He's clearly very impressed with himself but he simply doesn't have the observational skills and insight into human behavior that mark out the best comics.

Nigel Lord, October 2009

I think he's copying Russell Howard.

Melina Fiol, August 2009

I saw him in Edinburgh this evening, and it was the best live comedy I've ever seen. I belly laughed constantly and have never enjoyed an evening of entertainment more! I feel suitably uplifted and inspired. Genius.

Rhys Jones, August 2009

Sorry People after watching on Live at The Apollo I found him irritating and not funny. I never laughed once. It just goes to show how awful comedy has become. Watching the audience roll about, over what? I guess to succeed as a comic you just have to be as irritating as possible and be tremendously unfunny. Paint drying would entertain me more!

Smiler, April 2009

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