Comedy review: Daniel Sloss

IT’S by now a well-worn stand-up tactic for the comic to kick off a show by discussing famous people they most resemble.

Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss. Picture: Dan Phillips

Daniel Sloss

Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh

****

There probably aren’t many who insist that their face is Hitler’s idealised vision of Aryan Man, but in case any sensitive types were bristling at the very notion of this being spoken out loud, fears would have been allayed by the content of Daniel Sloss’s latest show.

A passionate opponent of homophobia, the religious right and misogyny (Beyoncé and Rihanna are perfectly entitled to wear as little as they want), he comes down pretty hard on those who are bad at complaining. While projecting himself as a know-it-all moaner, Sloss maintains that he lacks intelligence, and is merely a febrile collection of highly opinionated views, none of which represent a solid manifesto for life.

Perhaps this is the one act of rebellion he was able to pull off in the face of having highly advanced, successful and quasi-hippyish parents (or “giant losers” in his view) who allowed him plenty of freedom while supporting him on his career path all the way.

There might not be anything especially new in much of what he says (though he surely has the most committed, detailed material about Xbox obsession on the circuit), but it all comes down to the way he tells ‘em. And Daniel Sloss delivers his routines with an infectious verve, allied to a thoroughly professional sheen which should be utterly alien to a 24-year-old in any line of work.

Seen on 25.10.14