Gig review: Neil Innes

Published on Sunday 4 October 2009 20:59

VOODOO ROOMS, EDINBURGH **

ALTHOUGH this show is named A People's Guide to World Domination, Neil Innes seems to be proposing a velvet revolution based around the twin pillars of gentle comedy songwriting and impotent political fury. As a core member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, a frequent collaborator with the Monty Python team and one of The Rutles, Innes's career is worthy of respect. Yet it was the old favourites that stood out here, and even the best comedy songs suffer sharply in the face of diminishing marginal returns.

A medley of tracks from The Rutles and a brief re-enactment of Brave Sir Robin from Monty Python and the Holy Grail bring nostalgic chuckles, while the Bonzos' I'm the Urban Spaceman was inescapable, and welcome.

Yet there's a marked decline in quality between these and his less familiar pieces. Ego Warriors, for example, is a fairly hamfisted gag about political disaffection and, worse, Mr Eurovision is an embarrassing tide of Hitler salutes and nasal Nordic accents, a monument to regrettably throwback national stereotyping.

Innes is a character you want to like, when he's not rattling on about the news (emotional engineering), kings and rulers (just like the Mafia) and religion (got some good ideas about hygiene), as if he's composing a letter to his MP in his head.

But in this case, comedy and politics certainly don't mix.