Precise observations, as funny as they are well constructed
Pierre Novellie’s business suit and florid tie are incongruent with Soho Downstairs’ crammed-in seating and smell of stale beer. But this exceptionally well-pitched show is unimpeded, and delivers a masterclass in observational comedy. The incisive descriptions and occasional flights of fancy in You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here feel capable of running for twice as long without ever losing momentum.
A consistent highlight is Novellie’s brilliant use of analogy, sketching hilarious portraits of everyday life sparingly. Comparing competitors on The Traitors with a 13th-century peasant mob is multi-layered and impressively accurate. More conventional stand-up fare – from moving house to growing older – remains fresh thanks to this unique ability to describe things with precision and hilarity. Novellie worries about his weight in the same way a Tesco security guard encounters a shoplifter, relayed through a joke-dense description that is right on the money.
Increasing cantankerousness with age (and middle-class comfort) is a recurring theme, as Novellie interrogates which “new opinion” is reactionary nonsense and which is a sensible worry – a distinction captured through evocative analogy with 70s punk rock. Along similar lines, he also discusses the evolution of observational comedy in the modern era – “so many of the things I observe are depressing” – and the ever-shrinking sphere of shared reference in an age of on-demand content and algorithmic recommendations.
Longer stories dotted throughout allow Novellie to show off his full skillset. Many anecdotes surround hospitality, from a game of chicken with cleaning staff at a Melbourne hotel to a precise dissection of Premier Inn’s “looking forward to your stay” e-mail. You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here culminates with a joke-packed story racing across London to beat a moving company, only realising, once stood in the middle of a tube train clutching frozen meat to his chest, that he could be mistaken for a hallucination. Novellie’s trust in his audience to get the joke is compelling – one minute painting a surreal image, the next referencing the fall of man through Winnie the Pooh – and his biggest laughs often come after the second of silence it takes for a reference to click. This pause amplifies the enjoyment, and encourages intelligent punchlines.
Perhaps a consequence of this intelligence, You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here can feel quite rigid – audiences on this 12-night run will hear the same ideas in the same order. Novellie’s jokes aren’t any less funny as a result, and their delivery is no less skilled, but some audience interaction or off-the-cuff remarks would add a welcome element of unpredictability.
Surprisingly, Novellie’s cynicism crescendos into hope, which likely helped earn his fourth “Best Reviewed Shows of the Fringe” listing in a row, and is also very satisfying and funny in its own right. In a world of mainstream alternative comedy, there’s something reassuringly solid in the ‘intelligent observations, a microphone, and an audience’ simplicity of You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here. A masterclass in modern observational comedy.
“Pierre Novellie – You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here” plays at the Soho Theatre until 31st January, before embarking on a tour of the UK and Ireland. Tickets for Soho Theatre can be purchased here, and for the tour on Novellie’s website.