"I'm very lonely" - 30-year-old British stand-up comedian Simon Amstell began his performance in Dublin on May 22, 2010. A year later, a good translator translated a recording of the speech entitled “Simon Amstell: Don't do anything," in Russian. Two years later, it was voiced at the RUMBLE studio, which I had just started following. Not knowing anything about the comedian, I just started watching.
Predictably, the first thing that surprised me in his talk was the way he talked about same-sex relationships. He didn’t talk about their difference from “ordinary,” nor did he even say the word “gay,” its derivatives or synonyms (at least I didn’t notice it). It is as if it is something ordinary, as if gay people are absolutely the same people as everyone else: they have the same goals, emotions and problems.
I was struck by the honesty and sincerity with which Simon spoke about his personal life, failed loves and misunderstandings in the family. And the latter is not about him, but about the girl of his brother, who was born outside the Jewish faith. His narrative has a clear framework that begins with something like “I’m pinched and lost just because I exist.” Gradually, he unravels the tangle of the troubles of his life and comes to a simple conclusion: if you do not like what role you play in life, play another and do not let circumstances interfere with you.
And this monologue is funny, if the analysis above makes you doubt it. There are jokes about cat AIDS, and about the fact that insulting religious people is too easy, and about pineapple. As you can see, there's plenty of diversity. His honesty is revealed not only in sincerity, but also in criticality. Both to themselves and to those around them. Discussions about what leads to the marriage of a Jew with a non-Jewish woman, sounding towards the end - almost the quintessence of all his humor. A perfect example of how he takes a thing from life and turns it upside down, adding irony and common sense.
"Do Nothing" to me is a confirmation that comedy performances in terms of influence on the minds may not be inferior to other works of art. In fact, stand-up is not far away from the snide monologues in the book or the reasoning behind-the-screen voice for editing from films. It is the closest thing to a simple conversation with an interesting person. Someone only does that poison jokes, not stopping, and the other can during a funny story to illustrate his life position.
My favorite comedians are both types one and two, so I think they're very different. If only they could make a funny and exciting performance. How they do it is not so important. That’s why I single out Amstell’s first haste among the many other concerts of all comedians: he both gives laughs and really captivates. You want to keep listening to this man until the end.
Around the same time that I first saw Simon, I was having a lot of trouble with self-determination. Not so long ago, a girl who is still the most powerful love of my life, shrugged and sent me away. It was an involuntary push to find what was wrong with me. And in that search, I discovered my bisexuality.
One day, a friend asked me why I even talked about my sexual orientation. Really, why? I like girls more than guys anyway. Most likely, I will connect my life with a representative of the opposite sex. But it is my awareness of this orientation, and my telling others about it in particular, that helps me better understand myself. It gives me the role I want to play in life.
No, Simon Amstell didn't make me half gay with his gay stories. Such an honor, to put it lightly, belongs rather to that girl's fascination with me. His words about feeling attracted to a member of the same sex helped me to understand that love is one for all, it is not divided into subspecies because of orientation. But above all, he shared my loneliness and gave me an example that I was just a dreamer and could be who I wanted to be. For that I will always be grateful.
Even without the personal aspect, "Do Nothing" is still a great performance. I laughed aloud all three views and to myself when I listened to the MP3 file more times.
9 out of 10