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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Comedy gold: Rob Newman's History of Oil | Comedy gold: Rob Newman's History of Oil |
| (5 months later) | |
| Title: History of Oil | Title: History of Oil |
| Buy it from | Buy it from |
| Date: 2006 | Date: 2006 |
| The setup: Rob Newman has always seemed to be uncomfortable with the world he lives in. He became famous, famously, for selling out Wembley Arena with his then comedy partner David Baddiel in 1993. This had never been done before, and was cited by some journalists as evidence for the trite announcement that comedy had become "the new rock'n'roll", which now looks rather less trite, given that several comics are commanding crowds like that on a weekly basis. | The setup: Rob Newman has always seemed to be uncomfortable with the world he lives in. He became famous, famously, for selling out Wembley Arena with his then comedy partner David Baddiel in 1993. This had never been done before, and was cited by some journalists as evidence for the trite announcement that comedy had become "the new rock'n'roll", which now looks rather less trite, given that several comics are commanding crowds like that on a weekly basis. |
| Newman, however, is no longer one of them. In the early years, he specialised in the brilliantly poised puerility of History Today and Jarvis, but since that Wembley show he has done nothing without an overt political purpose (and everything, as a result, without big audiences). Like Mark Thomas, an occasional collaborator and an exact contemporary, he now specialises not so much in comedy with a conscience, but agitprop with jokes. | Newman, however, is no longer one of them. In the early years, he specialised in the brilliantly poised puerility of History Today and Jarvis, but since that Wembley show he has done nothing without an overt political purpose (and everything, as a result, without big audiences). Like Mark Thomas, an occasional collaborator and an exact contemporary, he now specialises not so much in comedy with a conscience, but agitprop with jokes. |
| Reading this on mobile? Click here to view | Reading this on mobile? Click here to view |
| Funny how? No question, Newman is very problematic viewing. There's nothing yucky or graphic in his act; he barely swears. Indeed, he's one of the most courteous performers you'll ever come across, in some ways more like a jolly lecturer. Yet where most comics rely on winning audiences over with their observations, or their view of the world, Newman offers a view that only Marxists, conspiracy theorists or eco-fundies could nod along to unconflicted: Tony Blair is as much of a war criminal as Joseph Goebbels; the BBC is an organ of western propaganda; we (ie us, not him) are all "suckers" who "need to believe" that industrial civilisation is not on the brink of collapse. | Funny how? No question, Newman is very problematic viewing. There's nothing yucky or graphic in his act; he barely swears. Indeed, he's one of the most courteous performers you'll ever come across, in some ways more like a jolly lecturer. Yet where most comics rely on winning audiences over with their observations, or their view of the world, Newman offers a view that only Marxists, conspiracy theorists or eco-fundies could nod along to unconflicted: Tony Blair is as much of a war criminal as Joseph Goebbels; the BBC is an organ of western propaganda; we (ie us, not him) are all "suckers" who "need to believe" that industrial civilisation is not on the brink of collapse. |
| Yet in places he does make you wonder: perhaps there's something in this? It is the standard posture of the conspiracy theorist to strain to seem more erudite than any of his doubters, which is usually tiresome and also smug, unless you arrived agreeing. Newman does it too, but he brings along rare quantities of information, articulacy, talent and proper laughs. Was the first world war primarily a British attempt to secure Iraqi oil reserves? He makes a good case. Does the US have 14 permanent military bases in Iraq? I must look into it. | Yet in places he does make you wonder: perhaps there's something in this? It is the standard posture of the conspiracy theorist to strain to seem more erudite than any of his doubters, which is usually tiresome and also smug, unless you arrived agreeing. Newman does it too, but he brings along rare quantities of information, articulacy, talent and proper laughs. Was the first world war primarily a British attempt to secure Iraqi oil reserves? He makes a good case. Does the US have 14 permanent military bases in Iraq? I must look into it. |
| He is very funny when he digresses, which is often, into discussions of his own technique – such as his bricklaying mime looking like a game of "fop tennis". ("The first player to produce a bead of perspiration loses."; "Points are further deducted for appearing to care about the result. Scoring is bourgeois.") At the same time, rather unexpectedly (although it's how he began his career), he is a brilliant mimic. In a nation already overflowing with Tony Blair impressions, Newman's, I think, is the best. Crucially, he can also laugh about his own extremeness, such as when he says, I suspect half-sincerely, that there should be "100 hours' community service for eating fruit out of season". | He is very funny when he digresses, which is often, into discussions of his own technique – such as his bricklaying mime looking like a game of "fop tennis". ("The first player to produce a bead of perspiration loses."; "Points are further deducted for appearing to care about the result. Scoring is bourgeois.") At the same time, rather unexpectedly (although it's how he began his career), he is a brilliant mimic. In a nation already overflowing with Tony Blair impressions, Newman's, I think, is the best. Crucially, he can also laugh about his own extremeness, such as when he says, I suspect half-sincerely, that there should be "100 hours' community service for eating fruit out of season". |
| Yes, there are gaping "areas for discussion", let's say, in Newman's theories. There are surely other reasons to make pariahs of North Korea, Iran and Saddam's Iraq, for instance, besides their decision to trade oil in euros instead of dollars. But if you lean left already, or can pry your mind open for three quarters of an hour, then this is the place to sample agitcom. | Yes, there are gaping "areas for discussion", let's say, in Newman's theories. There are surely other reasons to make pariahs of North Korea, Iran and Saddam's Iraq, for instance, besides their decision to trade oil in euros instead of dollars. But if you lean left already, or can pry your mind open for three quarters of an hour, then this is the place to sample agitcom. |
| Comic cousins: Mark Thomas, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Jeremy Hardy, Stewart Lee | Comic cousins: Mark Thomas, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Jeremy Hardy, Stewart Lee |
| Steal this: "The level of naivety necessary before you can talk about 'an American plan to bring democracy to the Middle East' cannot be found anywhere outside of 1970s porno films. 'You mean the time machine only works if I take off all my clothes?'" | Steal this: "The level of naivety necessary before you can talk about 'an American plan to bring democracy to the Middle East' cannot be found anywhere outside of 1970s porno films. 'You mean the time machine only works if I take off all my clothes?'" |
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