This is Rosie's opinion

The latest in an occasional series of (almost) theatre reviews...

Adam Buxton - Best Of Bug : indigo at The O2

Another work freebie-ish (a small donation to Comic Relief was required) but I might have paid for this if I'd known it was on (more on this later).  I love Adam Buxton's podcast (the quality is variable, but the good ones are very good - and they're not always the ones you expect) and I've heard nice things about his Bug shows, so why wouldn't I be tempted by "Best of Bug"?

And, well - this was an interesting one.  A high level description of the show is "Adam plays some YouTube videos" - and you're obviously thinking "there's got to be more to it than that. surely?".  Well, you can stop those thoughts right now, because what happens is that Adam plays some YouTube videos.  

Anyone can do that, right?

And yes, they could but there are a couple of important (and vital) differences from, for example, me doing such a thing.  Adam very much knows his audience - although I'd have to say they were a lot more diverse than I was expecting.  He's not garnered a huge audience at any time, but he has slowly built a loyal, if somewhat targeted (yes, that means small) audience since Adam & Joe started in '94.

But, however much Adam knows his audience - his audience knows a WHOLE lot more about Adam.  This is a man who can show a video of his dog doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and the audience applauds! (I knew he had Rosie dog, but I didn't instantly recognise her - unlike plenty in the room).  

None of which is entirely inspiring for the neutral members of the audience - what EXACTLY is Adam bringing to the party here?!?  Well, I can't say it's entirely down to Adam but...

We've all spent time surfing YouTube and in a couple of hours we find some reasonable covers of tracks we know, some reasonable tracks by people we like, some reasonable tracks by people we don't know and, well, a load of old shite.  But the videos that were shown here were on a whole other level - I can't even begin to imagine how long "Adam" spent tracking down the following truly excellent videos.

Mirwais - My Generation
This is a fine dance track with an amazing video - the director Ludovic Houplain is a man who knows his corporate branding and I think it's safe to say he's happy to throw them all (and everything else) into the mix.

Kendrick Lamar - My Heat (Part 5)
This is an OK track with an interesting video - it's deepfake territory where each verse is sung by a different person including O. J. Simpson, Kanye West, Jessie Smollett, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant and Nipsey Hussle (an interesting, if slightly contentious mix).  The video is well worth a watch, but for me doesn't work as well as you might expect because it tries so much - but I was somewhat surprised to read that the whole thing was produced by Trey Stone and Matt Parker's studio.

Audiobooks - Lalala It's The Good Life
A decent track with another amazing video - images have been painted on sheets and manipulated as required.  And there's really quite a bit of manipulation involved - but very effectively so.  It's well worth a watch (and it's only 2:23, so check it out!)

Tierra Whack - Unemployed
You will never see a video with as many potatoes in it as this.  And many of them are very sad potatoes.

Salvatore Ganucci - Horse
I get the impression from the show that Salvatore is a bit of Adam favourite - and when you watch this you'll understand why.  It's absolutely nuts - but sooo entertaining nonetheless.  Believe me when I say that there's nothing I can do to prepare you for this video - it includes a woman punching a lion in the head, a man driving a shoe and various animals having their heads shut in doors.  It's just so worth a watch.

Weval - Someday
If you like clever videos, then you have to watch this - it's made up of hundreds of thousands of still images and took several months to pull together.  I've absolutely no idea why anyone would do bother doing that, but Páraic McGloughlin did.

The Smile - Skirting On The Surface
This is a bit of a dour track, but it's quite a clever video filmed in a tin mine with some interesting effects because it was shot on 16mm film and developed by hand using water from the mine - that really feels like making your life hard for no obvious reason.  Adam also pointed out that having a band featuring two members of Radiohead and then calling them The Smile is somewhat ironic

Duck Sauce - Mesmerize
Yes.  Well.  This is quite something.

So, the quality of the videos is the thing that makes the difference here - I really enjoyed being introduced to a load of stuff I'd never have found otherwise and experiencing the craftsmanship on display.  Some of them were cut short very abruptly - but I was happy to accept this was because this was a "Best of Bug" show for the Just For Laughs festival.  Additionally, I think it was supposed to be a 90 minute show, but it started 30 minutes late so I think further pruning was involved.

What I would have been less happy to accept (if it had been relevant for me) was the ticket price - £30 for a very short show with no obvious overheads seems kinda steep.  But hey - not my problem!

The show was held in the Indigo venue at the O2 - I knew it existed but had never been to a show there before and I can report it's very smart, with comfy seats and plenty of legroom.  It's well worth experiencing if you get the chance to go - I have to admit I never check out who's playing there, but I totally should.

So overall, I really enjoyed this - whilst at the same time thinking "there's not really much to this, is there?".  Yes, there's obviously a skill in making the tricky look simple - but I'm really not convinced it's all that tricky.  But Adam is a charming host and I will make an effort to go and see one of his "proper" Bug shows at the BFI partly to compare with this one and partly just to see some more really cool videos.

Best Of Enemies - best of the year so far
Medea - An impressive production