Writer: Drew Michael
The Edinburgh debut of Brooklyn based comedian Drew Michael begins like many stand-up sets, with a young guy facing an existential crisis as he tries to avoid staring at his phone to see if the person he’s been on a date with is going to text him. It’s a well observed routine, with some nice deviations into his relationship with his parents and whether they’re the root cause of his paranoia.
However, any expectations this sets up for what the rest of the show is going to be are quickly turned on their head when he introduces the subject of hearing loss and his own journey towards profound deafness. The normality of the opening is merely a set up that helps to highlight the difficulties he faced.
As the audience are invited to put on headphones, the immersion in Drew’s world becomes complete. The sound of the comedian on the stage is muted then distorted, making it hard and then impossible to hear what he is saying. Drew’s observations on the experience are what we hear instead as his mind wonders from the performance he’s watching to any manner of mundane or profound topics. When he does cut back to listening to the comedian on stage, he’s trying to catch up with what he’s saying, working out what he’s missed and missing more as a result.
It’s a very original insight into the obstacles that he and other people with severe hearing loss are facing. There are moments of great humour but they’re also mixed with tragedy and pathos as he battles against a presumption that he’d far rather have invisible hearing aids that didn’t affect his appearance than to actually be able to hear. Unfortunately, some of this is lost at times as a result of the sonic landscape that is delivered through the headphones. While his inability to hear what is being said is the trigger for much of what he is thinking, the background noises that take their place mean that the audience have to concentrate on his thoughts as hard as he tried and failed to concentrate on the stand-up. The end result comes dangerously close to being the same, as he acknowledges he is starting to alienate the audience.
With his thoughts and reflections returning to take centre stage, the end of the set has a raw and brutal honesty as he talks about what he has lost in his early years and what his hopes and fears are for the future. His delivery is brave and beautiful in equal measure. The show overall would benefit with a little more focus on what he is thinking and a little less focus on what he is hearing as those thoughts come into his head.
Runs until 27 August 2023 (not 16th) | Image: Contributed
