Mark Restuccia - How to Succeed at Internet Dating

• Andrew Latimer
• 22 August 2012

This article is from 2012.

Step 1: Don’t follow the example set here

It makes sense that Mark Restuccia’s debut solo show at the Fringe is a ‘How To…’. The format is safe and straightforward, offering clear structure and allowing for plenty of easy punch lines. Throw in a handy PowerPoint to supply images and videos, and you’ve got a reasonably solid and organised act.

This show actually has the potential to be very funny. There are attitudes towards online dating which can still be cashed in on, particularly connected to sexuality and race. Instead, Restuccia delivers some fairly obvious jokes about profile pictures and first-date anxieties. He occasionally ventures into interesting territory about how going on countless dates has normalised the experience for him, or how it has actually intensified his expectations of women and relationships.

Restuccia occasionally borrows a Gervais-esque ineptness or shifty raise of the eyebrows, both of which are flat and lack the energy needed to galvanise the routine. Trivial chat-up line gags just don’t generate the expected laughs, and you’ll find yourself hovering around a light giggle for the majority of the set.

Gilded Balloon at Third Door, 622 6552, until 27 Aug, 9.30pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50).