There is a common misconception that, in order to win the attention of a rowdy or distracted audience, you must raise your voice and talk louder; when, in fact, the opposite is true – to be heard, you must lower your voice to a whisper, bringing the audience to your level.
Understanding this principle, Edward Aczel succeeds in sedating his audience into a trance of silent suspense from beginning to end, by delivering his material in what amounts to little more than sighing exhalation. It is as if the recession has caused him to be made redundant from his office job and now he is forced to perform stand-up at the Underbelly out of necessity, going through the motions to pay rent.
Aczel dedicates the first half of the show to dissecting stand-up comedy techniques, the latter to tackling the world at large, taking questions from the floor derived from a shortlist of his specialist subjects. His delivery is so hypnotic that you find yourself recognising a catchphrase every time he repeats “any more for any more?”.
The beauty of Aczel’s act is that the jokes are designed to come in random order that lends to its freshness and vitality. However, despite his unkempt appearance, Aczel is in total control – thriving on the absurdity of it all.
Any comedian willing to go this far to be this original deserves to make a success of it. You will come away from this show very pleased with yourself for ‘getting it’. Too original to deserve the “not to be missed” cliché – this is better than that.
5/5 
Nick James
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