Review by Julia Chamberlain

Colin Leggo has put together an engaging hour’s show here, the story of losing his leg 14 months ago and subsequently getting his life back on track. It’s a cheery, life-affirming show, crammed with anecdote and padded with chuckle-worthy YouTube research for clips of people called Colin looking like dicks or foreign adverts for pants, cleaning products or whatever of the same name.

He projected natural warmth and ease with his situation, revving up proceedings with a bunch of leg and foot-related puns and figures of speech which gave the audience permission to stare at the metal prosthesis which has improved his life no end. The jokes and puns would have been pretty unforgivable from someone else

Some shows succeed on the strength of their story, others more on the writing and ideas, this was definitely one from the former category. It’s a story that deserved to be told and the show has probably got legs (sorry) for social and educational purposes in schools, clinics and hospitals. You have to admire a man to whom life handed lemons and he then determinedly made lemonade rather than grow bitter and idle himself.

However I found that the exploitation of crap magazines of the Now Take A Bella Break variety by flogging them nonsensical versions of his amputation story, whilst amusing is a bit unnerving, although it’s good to see the boot on the other foot for a change (sorry again).

I found it interesting to consider where Leggo drew the line on using his situation, one of those variably declining verbs (I make the best of my situation; YOU are taking the piss out of it; THEY are exploiting me…) but I respect his determined control of his life.

Yet there’s a ‘reality programming’ aspect to this kind of autobiographical medical show which doesn’t sit easily with me. The quality of the gags needs to be far higher and fewer items ‘found on the internet’ to stand up in the comedy section. Nevertheless it’s an absorbing and interesting story, well-told and consolidates his achievements in several areas of performance.

Review date: 9 Aug 2015
Reviewed by: Julia Chamberlain
Reviewed at: Laughing Horse @ The Blind Poet