Review by Steve Bennett

Walk idly past the cabaret arena when Tom Basden is on, and you could mistake the sound emanating from the tent as yet another earnest acoustic musician, strumming his guitar to poignant and melodic ballads.

But listen for even a moment to the lyrics of songs such as I Was In A Snuff Movie But I Made It Out Alive and you’ll be in little doubt you’re in the presence of a sublime comedy talent.

For Basden may have a mellow presentation, but it hides a killer wit, with delightfully obtuse and surprising gags at the heart of every song, often using he rhythm and pacing of the tune to add extra impact.

Even better than the musical numbers are the extracts from his new novel Hot Moon – still criminally unpublished. A mix of just about every literary genre going, its failed metaphors, linguistic dead ends and superfluous detail would surely win it a place among the literary travesties in Robin Ince’s Book Club had every clunky phrase not been beautifully crafted for maximum embarrassment. Basden proves that the term ‘inappropriate language’ need have nothing to do with swearing, but be a devastatingly effective comic technique.

Not content with mastering musical and narrative comedy, Basden’s superlative set is illustrated with pithy, uniquely funny cartoons and photo-montages; while his list rundowns on such topics as ‘Five reasons why t would be bad to be raped by Sting’ put David Letterman’s Top Tens to shame.

Basden also got to show off a strangely serious side in his Latitude set, thanks to the punter who insisted he perform his non-comic version of Abba’s Mamma Mia! – in which he managed to turn Europop into a surprisingly profound ballad. He told us it wasn’t funny, and it wasn’t, but there’s more than a touch of genius about it, and it made for a suitable offering for a cabaret tent.

It was just an extra layer on what’s been *the* comedy performance of the festival so far.

Review date: 25 Jul 2010
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett