Review: Daniel Sloss, Hyena Lounge Comedy Club, City Screen Basement, York (From York Press)

Review: Daniel Sloss, Hyena Lounge Comedy Club, City Screen Basement, York

11:26am Monday 12th December 2011 in Comedy

The warm-up, Kai Humphries, was definitely worthy of mention; from a relaxed beginning which was totally conversational and unstructured, the comic moved masterfully into some very complex routines worked in towards the end of the set.

An act which is more sophisticated than one initially gives credit for, Humphries is not just personable and watchable – but actually very, very smart to boot.

Although Sloss is a comedian of the younger generation, his humour is aimed very much at the 30+ demographic; his characterisation of generation X is self-effacing and almost satirical, which makes him accessible to a much larger fanbase.

The material is energetically delivered, and the set has a certain loose structure to it which plays well. A lot of the humour is rather too predictable though, and there's a sense that the energy he performs with is what carries the jokes, rather than their own strength.

Sloss was an outspoken act, but evidently considered himself a bit more controversial than he was. This consideration threw some of the material out of joint for me, since controversial jokes are made or broken by their shock factor.

Overall, Daniel Sloss is definitely an act worth watching, and the evening as a whole was very enjoyable. If you’re expecting to see comedy taken in a new direction by the younger generation, you won’t see it here; Sloss is very much the youngest proponent of a comedic style that’s very tried-and-tested. If you’re just looking for a laugh, however, you could do a lot worse.

- James Harle