By his own admission, Andrew J Lederer is not feeling great. He’s not sick, just a little down (which his attributes to an electrolyte imbalance) and so the beginning of his show is a little listless. Normally this would be extremely bad for a stand up but Lederer manages to get round his lack of energy by simply chatting with the audience before the show actually start and even adds his own entry music to help people feel more at ease.
In fact, he never actually properly starts his show on this night, as his up close interaction with the small audience simply snowballs into a free flowing stream of consciousness but this is okay, as Lederer is very good orator and his sparkling wit continually manages to reel the crowd into his headspace.
Eventually, the sedate New Yorker does get onto his main themes – himself and Hitler – and tries to explain the crowbar separation that exists between the subjects, dismissing the connection that everyone was perplexed about. Essentially, he wants to discuss himself and the world that surrounds us and then try and relate it to the hate that Hitler inspired. It sounds really heavy but Lederer never lays it on thickly and, instead, we are treated to the rambling musings of an obviously intelligent man.
If you like your comedy loud, offensive and full of dick jokes, go elsewhere, but if you want to be entertained by a laidback man who can dip down multiple avenues and find something humourous, then you could do a lot worse than Andrew J Lederer. If nothing else, his conclusion is an apt take on current world affairs – defiantly not a punchline but extremely astute.
4/5
Richard Biggs
