James Acaster: Repertoire
By Charlotte Dekle
I’m not going to sugarcoat it, I’m a huge fan of this comedian. So I could be biased on this. His four-part Netflix special, Repertoire, is comedy gold. It somehow succeeds in having the classic “have you ever noticed this” schtick but updated it for a new group of comedy goers. The special has a balance of style and substance. He talks about cheese graters, the annoyance of certain kinds of lamps, bananas, witness protection, and apricots, and somehow it all still fits a story. A story that you can follow if you watch all four episodes which I highly suggest you do. He utilizes callbacks in his routines, not as the ending of his special but to enhance an already hilarious joke. That’s why you should watch it all in one go. A throwaway gag in one part could be called back to in a different part with a delightful payoff. You go on a roller coaster of emotions in one cohesive story. A story of a criminal who accidentally shouted out his entire postcode in an altercation with a rival street gang. He then has to go into witness protection, ends up on jury duty where he meets the worst person in existence. He then becomes an undercover cop who infiltrates a street gang and begins a podcast. Acaster is the only comedian where I’ve watched him a second time and still laughed at the jokes. But his stand-up is also poignant and reveals deeper truths about humanity and makes the show quite somber. Each section addresses genuine difficulties in his life. Recognise is about a post-breakup identity crisis. Represent deals with his flailing faith. In Reset, Acaster enters a witness protection program, as well as offering a bit of analysis on Brexit. In four parts, he addresses divorce and falling out of love, he talks about Pret A Manger and loopholes, the existential crisis of assigning a happiness rating to your smile, and the psychological distress of leading a conga line. According to the Decider, ”Looking like a young Conan O’Brien, and sounding like a young John Oliver, Acaster exhibits parts of what makes all of those comedians great, from parts both whimsical and thought-provoking.”
logline: Offbeat comedian James Acaster talks about the strange, the mundane and everything in between.
My Favorite Part: Recap - it does exactly what the title suggests. It recaps and connects the previous three stand up specials in a cohesive and phenomenal way. I don’t want to give too much away but the duck bit at the end made me sniffle a bit, which I don’t do very often.
Rated TV-14 for language
Where to watch: Netflix
Image source: IMDb