David Hoyle

A few years ago after staggering home quite drunk I was flicking through the channels when I happened upon a man in drag - really frightening drag - doing a comedy sketch about his local canal. Except it was really a comedy sketch - it certainly didn't have any jokes in it – but it was one of the funniest things I'd seen on TV. Even though the point of the sketch was all the supposed crimes and atrocities that had taken place on this nondescript stretch of waterway. This was the Divine David, David Hoyle's alter ego who perished at his creator's hands in 2000.

Hoyle's latest show at The Basement is really the Divine David's resurrection - the same drag, the same persona, even down to the the same frenchified way of saying words like 'interpetation'. And, from a man who's a comedy genius - well, a genius of some sort - it's an evening whose weirdness is matched only by its wonderfulness.

If you're not familiar with Hoyle's work his act is hard to describe. It's a two-hour stream of consciousness monologue (with a soupcon of audience participation) whose every word and pause has been tirelessly honed to perfection after months of practice. Or he steps onto the stage without any idea of what he's going to say. It's very hard to tell. There's quite a bit of talk about sex, avant-garde art, capitalism, drugs and the self-serving machinations of certain gay men. And to make sure we get our money's worth he also belts out a couple of torch songs.

It's not exactly stand-up as the show has no big jokes, no riffs of the 'it's funny because it's true' variety. And it's not exactly drag. It's something unique and strangely thrilling even when it's quite often baffling. Perhaps it's best to think of the evening as group therapy - and as an audience I think we did kind of bond after we had to dodge bits of pumpkin that Hoyle started to kick over our heads. It certainly changed my life, perhaps even for the better.

Hoyle's next show is at the Chelsea Theatre on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 November.

For more information view:
www.chelseatheatre.org.uk/therapy.htm