Review by Steve Bennett

Latitude isn’t just a music festival, but it seems fitting to have a few musical turns on the comedy stage. Step forward Doc Brown, who uses rapping in his comedy the same way Tim Minhin uses piano.

Rather than cheap parodies, he’s a bona fide rapper who once toured with De La Soul and was in a band with uber-producer Mark Ronson – a talent he uses to create tracks that would stand up even if they weren’t funny. But thankfully they are.

Now older, and possibly wiser, his days of touring as a musician are, however, behind him and his new career takes him to the dives of the comedy circuit – as well as prestigious gigs such as this.

The stand-up patter between his raps is amiable enough, though it wouldn’t be enough to set him apart from many of his comedy contemporaries, speaking about how he copes badly with things such as relationship break-ups and fatherhood – though he barely looks old enough. But there are laughs, and he seems to be having fun, which is infectious.

That comes to the fore in the music, whether it be recalling the first rap he ever did – a naively earnest anti-racism number – or taking us through the hip-hop patios, not the most unique of ideas but done with style here, by a confident, natural performer who truly owns the stage.

Then there is the more personal, lower energy, tracks such as Why D’you Leave? And an excellent audience response showstopper, which slightly reminded me of one of brilliant poet John Hegley’s set pieces and really gets the audience into the swing of things.

‘Latitiude’s got flow,’ Brown concludes. And so, too, does he.

Review date: 25 Jul 2010
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett