Venue Blog - Phil Kay In Tweed

Hyperactive, bushy-bearded Scottish comic Phil Kay returned to the Vic for a second evening of off-kilter comedy this evening, and although it’s not improvisation as such, his distracted musings and constant diversions are a good fit for the festival. There were no big surprises tonight in the manner of Simon Munnery’s unexpected appearance as Queen Elizabeth last year and our impromptu tour of the bowels of the theatre; but what we did get was a surprisingly solid set of stories from Kay’s hapahazard life.

A few of these involved Phil getting in mild trouble with the law, his instinctive disrespect for authority and convention leading him into a car chase of precisely 187 metres as he moves a mattress from one house to another; and an incident in which uber-macho Aussie comic Jim Jeffries tries to defend him from the rozzers in an Edinburgh kebab shop.

As always, thereare frequent digressions depending on whatever catches Phil’s eye or crosses his consciousness. A three-minute song is composed for a lady who gets up for a pee, and he debates with himself at length on the ethics of embellishing a story for comic effect. After a slowish start, the set builds a fabulous momentum by about half way in and noone leaves with their face uncreased.