Review: Jerry Sadowitz @ Albert Halls, Bolton (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Review: Jerry Sadowitz @ Albert Halls, Bolton

6:03pm Thursday 17th November 2011 in Stage: Show reviews By Michael Short

Review: Jerry Sadowitz @ Albert Hallls, Bolton

“IT’S comedy — it’s supposed to be wrong!”

So says Jerry Sadowitz to his audience at The Albert Halls after another 100mph barb hits its spot and prompts a collective intake of breath.

The Jewish Scottish comedian and magician could well be the most offensive man on the comedy circuit — a circuit from which he has been sorely missed in recent years.

He is the master of a brutal and poisonous — even evil — routine which makes Frankie Boyle sound more like Lorraine Kelly. Sure, some of it is uncomfortable to listen to. But it is nearly always hilarious.

Sadowitz tackles normally-taboo subjects head on. And he doesn’t have a nice thing to say about women, homosexuals, the Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, the disabled, or the English for that matter. Michael Jackson and Sir Jimmy Savile don’t come out of it nicely either. Or Bolton. I still had tears running down my cheeks though.

Because it’s not all about offending people. What Sadowitz does brilliantly well is to utter things that should never be uttered to make his audience confront serious, often dark issues. And it is serious stuff. He is carrying on a true comedy tradition that stretches back hundreds of years, to ridicule society and its leaders.

It’s why he aims such a bile-filled broadside at rival comedians — Peter Kay, Jimmy Carr and Michael McIntyre in particular are not doing their job. It’s a fairly right on looking audience that turns out to see him in Bolton — anyone expecting skinheads and swastikas might be disappointed.

Slightly worryingly, I could imagine Nick Griffin enjoying the show — although he would be missing the joke.