Xavier Toby - Binge Thinking

• Marissa Burgess
• 22 August 2012

This article is from 2012.

Comedy addressing big ideas let down by whistle-stop rhetoric and poor material

In Binge Thinking, Toby relates the tale of a dinner party with three old male friends held after he returned from travelling. In that time they've all got married, and Toby recounts being unimpressed both with how they've changed and with their choices in wives. For a while, we're in seventies sitcom territory as Toby dismisses one wife being as obsessed with her house, another is a fat wearer of leggings and the other as a lawyer, but who has nice tits.

To be fair his mates don't come off much better. Throughout the party, Toby drops in many big topics and by the end he's proved himself to be a bit of a right-on dude; encouraging people to think rather than retreat to the introspection of a cosy but insular life. The trouble is that in order to pull off the initial misanthropy, the gags really need to pay off, and ultimately Toby's material isn't strong enough. Added to that, the accompanying rhetoric is whistle-stop and consequently a little simplistic. But at least his sentiment's in the right place.

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