Alex Prescot: Cosy

Underbelly – Bristo Square

 

For all intents and purposes, the morning is quite a jarring time for comedy. Alex Prescot’s Cosy may just be the exception that proves the rule, providing the blueprint for how stand-up can still be enjoyable before midday as long as it follows the same general rules of a children’s show; light, wholesome and plenty of music.

 

Over the course of the hour, Prescot recounts the break-up with his double-act partner – Nick – interspersed with musical vignettes, some of which are prepared and other which are improvised based off audience interactions. Separately, all of the disparate parts are solid bits of comedy with an abundance of silliness and joy built into the hour to make us reactively laugh. As one entity, there is almost too much going that it comes off a little disjointed and abrupt at times, regardless of how each segment separately builds towards the humour throughout and show’s overall conclusion. 

 

Each song is a showcase of Prescot’s uncanny talent and instinct to compose short and comedically-infused ditties, and each one is an absolute highlight of the show. These songs are effortlessly funny, upbeat and light-hearted. Never are they mean-spirited about their sources of inspiration, and are the best example of laughing with someone rather than at them. The task that Prescot takes upon himself to both improvise lyrics and melody on top of ensuring that each song is a source of comedy and laughter is monumental, but he makes it appear as if anyone could do it, that it comes as naturally to him as breathing. And it is almost tragic that there are so few examples of these improvised songs within the show. Whilst it would be an incredibly demanding task for Prescot to have an entire show that is just musical comedy and improvisation, it is the very thing that makes both him and this show special. Prescot possesses the talent to do it and do it well. Relegating the musical improvisation as Cosy’s tangent is both a shame and a wasted opportunity.

 

A significant portion of the hour is dedicated to Prescot’s throughline story about the decimation of his double-act. While certainly a bittersweet story, just like other parts of the show, not enough time is spent on it for us to appreciate the full extent of its thematic importance. The segues are clumsy and abrupt to non-existent as Prescot darts between the various parts of the show with little warning or explanation, which in turn gives the show a bit of a stop-start element to it. They’re less segues and more just a complete change in topic. The storyline’s rushed arc in between everything else has the same emphasis as all the other moving parts, giving it the feel of a tangent rather than an overarching narrative, to the point where it’s more of a distraction from the musical improvisation more than anything else. The overall message of this narrative is hard-hitting and deserves to have more time spent on it for us to fully grasp the weight of it, but Prescot moves on too quickly for that to fully happen in the moment, leaving for us to consider it in hindsight if at all.

“an abundance of silliness and joy”

Prescot himself is a brilliant performer. That is an obvious and proven fact. He’s friendly and naturally funny to the point where he embodies a ray of sunshine; transcendentally to the point where it’s virtually  impossible to not be in a good mood during and after this show no matter what side of the bed we woke up on. He makes us continuously laugh to the point where it almost serves as a backing track to the entire show. Prescot is a really engaging performer when he’s improvising and riffing off of the audience, bringing out these comedic golden nuggets from audience interactions on which to build catchy songs on time and time again. The only thing is that his demeanour and delivery noticeably shifts when he reverts back to his prepared storyline about Nick, becoming a lot stiffer in his performance, which in turn creates a momentary distance between us and himself before he once again moves onto whatever comes next. It is clear that Prescot is in his element when he’s improvising, which doesn’t quite translate to his prepared material.

 

Cosy certainly is cosy, accomplishing what it sets out to do in being a wholesome start to the morning. A simple aim that is undermined by the introduction of a  narrative which splits the show’s focus to the point where it feels like reviewing two separate shows. Nick is certainly holding Prescot back from achieving Cosy’s full potential; a potential and talent that Prescot has proven time and time again that he possesses. As it stands, this is a perfectly nice show to start the morning with and worth seeing if only because Prescot is guaranteed to put you in a good mood for the rest of the day.

 

By Katerina Partolina Schwartz

Photo Credit: Rebecca Need-Menear