Glenn Wool: Wool's Gold

• Kirstyn Smith
• 10 August 2014

This article is from 2014.

Twenty years of grief and jokes in a candid show that keeps just the right side of offensive

Jokes have not made Glenn Wool happy. They haven’t made him famous or rich. They have decimated his relationships and stunted his chances of being a father. This is a shame because jokes are one thing he is very good at. Still, we learn about his woes through a ‘greatest hits’ package, Wool trawling through the most offensive of barbs from a 20-year career, strung loosely together through the tale of an offended punter.

Like his stream-of-consciousness narrative, Wool is shambling, brimming with bile and self-loathing. His swaggering stage presence offsets the disdain with which he talks about his life of wrongdoings, and despite all this grief, he’s proud of his jokes. ‘Dr Hook’s House of Solutions’, he repeats again and again, after one particularly gnarly unwanted-baby joke. ‘Bet you never thought you’d hear that as a punchline.’

He keeps just the right side of offensive and, though he mocks the audience – or perhaps anyone dumb enough to be listening to him – his candidness ensures that he’s always on their side. A consummate jokesmith, Wool deconstructs his edgier material with intelligence, but isn’t above a well-constructed ‘fat-chick’ jibe. Wool should be happier, but if it meant him losing his bite, it’s a good thing he is not.

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 0844 545 8252, until 25 Aug (not 11, 18), 9.30pm, £13-£14 (£12-£13).