Review by Helen Ackrill

Talking about your pet cat for an hour and making it funny is quite impressive, unless you’re playing to an entire audience of feline haters. Luckily for David Tsonos he has a wealth of jokes and off-the-cuff remarks handy in case such an event occurs.

Tsonos is a walking contradiction. He is self-deprecating, polite to a fault and smiles often at his own awkwardness, he says, like a typical Canadian. Yet he is prone to bouts of swearing when he feels people should clap instead of giving him a patronising ‘aww’, and his high-pitched voice increases in volume whenever he gets exasperated. He can give a room whiplash at how fast he changes his mood – this particular audience were either laughing hysterically at some of his outbursts or sitting in stunned silence.

The story of the cat isn’t the driving force of the show, but a vehicle for Tsonos to despair at how stupid people are where animals are involved. His pet peeves (pun intended) include giving pets human names like ‘Colin’, paying ridiculous prices for their healthcare when humans get it for free, and how Canada lucked out when it came to choosing the beaver as their national animal. Most of his gags are fairly relatable and even those who don’t laugh will at least nod in recognition.

Tsonos only appeared to struggle when he attempted one-on-one interaction with the audience. It’s difficult to exert your opinions so profoundly and then expect people to banter with you as if you are old school chums. He got the hint fairly quickly and apologised (very politely) before moving swiftly on to his next joke. His failsafe tactic was to show photos of his cat, Mittens, which always got a sympathy ‘aww’ from the crowd.

Even if cats aren’t your thing Tsonos has plenty of other things to anguish over to keep you entertained. If you get his niche humour straight away you’ll be in tears by the end, and those that don’t will still find it hard not to smile at the ‘beaver' jokes.

Review date: 20 Aug 2015
Reviewed by: Helen Ackrill
Reviewed at: Just The Tonic at The Caves