In contrast to the normal vogue for ‘being yourself’ on stage, Spencer Brown adopts a purposefully false and unashamedly cheesy persona. He’s long drawn comparisons with Steve Martin’s early ‘wild and crazy guy’ act, but that zaniness is tempered by his own well-mannered Englishness.
That it is such an unapologetically contrived style, lacing each punchline with all the kooky energy he can muster, gives him the air of an enthusiastic amateur using every trick in the book to desperately inject some ‘oomph’. Not that Brown’s some green-gilled novice, he’s been performing for more than half a dozen years and the persona is entirely deliberate.
Such daft clowning may preclude him from chatting to the audience on their level; but that was never really going to be on the cards. In his gags, he’s always the hyperactive idiot foolish rushing into situation with bags of enthusiasm and zero common sense. The hope is some of that energy rubs off on to the crowd – and it usually does.
Some great material lurks behind this stylized delivery – funny, unexpected, often punny, his gags are well-phrased in language and timing, with offbeat punchlines you never quite see coming. Despite first appearances, there is a cleverness to his daftness.
The conscious attempts at wackiness may be draining, but Brown’s best gags are imaginative, original, and well worth hearing.
