The highlight is the breakup, a story that shows how his girlfriend went out to date Rowan Atkinson, the comedian best known for playing the British comic book institution Mr. Bean, a specialist in physical disturbances. With a sad gloomy mood, Acaster describes the peculiarly hilarious horror of being a young comedian “left to Mr. Bean”, a phrase he repeated over and over with the urgency of violins in a horror movie. It is a masterpiece of scary comedy, from which he always strays to anticipate criticism that he is being bitter and mean.
Acaster is not a comic who speaks the truth and doesn’t care what people think. He seems concerned about getting along, but uses his own sensitivity to add another layer of tension to his stories. In explaining the consequences to his agent, he gives a great demonstration of being fair, so much so that he says he will only tell the story from his point of view. He begins: “The first thing you need to know is that I blew it and did it to laugh.”
It is a known trick, to make someone look ridiculous by imagining the terrible logic of their thinking, but few have committed to it entirely or for so long. Many of Acaster’s jokes have a theatrical quality, and he incorporates not only staging, but also pantomime elaborated with props. He even makes a small joke of ordering food at a restaurant to illustrate his opinion of Brexit.
He happily stages his fights and, in the dispute with his agent, remembers his struggles with mental health that led him to the therapist, which results in the most explosive fight on the show. When he picks up his phone to read his private text messages to him, he smiles like someone enjoying the pleasure of playing dirty.
This is a show that has clearly gone through many incarnations, which may be the reason why with the purchase of “Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999”, you will also have another 40-minute performance on similar themes. In fact, cold lasagna is never mentioned, but even “I hate myself” seems strange, since there are so many other notions going on here.
Muffled anger is sometimes a setting, other times a joke, but always essential for this show. At one point, Acaster said he toured across the country, adding: “Let me say: I hate Britain, I absolutely hate it.
Then he turns, apologizing, always alert to the precise arrangement of the words. “I said it wrong,” he says, pausing. “I hate the British.”