Winning a Perrier can totally ruin some acts. The whiff of success goes to their heads, they get a TV deal and they become less funny. Thank God this hasn’t happened to Rich Hall AKA Otis Lee Crenshaw!
If anything, Otis is better than ever before. It’s as though he’s grown to fill the cavernous interior of the Scotsman Assembly’s Music Hall with his dynamic blend of jailhouse humour and song. The intelligent satire is glossier than before and his backing group, The Black Liars, have swelled in numbers.
Freedom seems to have been good for Otis, as the jailhouse is less prevalent in his set nowadays. Hall’s brand of biting satire seems to have rubbed off on his alter ego slightly, as Otis’s set takes on all comers, with President Bush setting firmly in his sights. It also seems open season on hecklers as Crenshaw’s wickedly sharp improv skills quickly despatch anyone foolhardy enough to attempt and assault.
It’s clear that Crenshaw isn’t fully rehabilitated yet, but if he keeps to this fantastic standard there’s little chance he’s going to end up back in the state pen.
5/5
Richard Biggs
