Gig review by Steve Bennett at Just For Laughs, Montreal

I’m not sure you’d call this a ‘show’ from Donnell Rawlings, given that it ran for 48 minutes of which 18 were taken up by opening act Jess Salomon. 

A couple of good gags notwithstanding, her set was lacklustre: crowd work that often ended with nothing more than an awkward ‘OK, erm, anyway’ and material about her relationship that tended to tail off. She’s Jewish, her wife’s Palestinian – this stuff writes itself! And she didn’t add much to those jokes that wrote themselves.

But Rawlings – who has also been performing at Just For Laughs’ regular Ethnic Show – instantly supercharged the energy, pouncing on to the stage with a tub-thumping hip-hop country song, after which he yelled the praises of the black, gay artist behind it, Lil Nas X.

A protégé of Dave Chappelle, Rawlings is bold and loud in his performance. Occasionally this covers for some weak writing – such as yet another routine about the ever-expanding LGBTQI+ acronym – but there’s often substance at the heart of the storm, too.

His most successful routines playfully mocked racial differences, finding new angles in the’ white people do this, black people do that’ field, talking about his preferences for white women and admitting: ‘I abuse the race card.’ Acting out how black women talk with their hand is a highlight.
He has a sense of mischief around the line of bad taste, noting: ‘There’s nothing funny about child molestation, but…’ However his Michael Jackson routine felt a little contrived, and his R Kelly primarily a gateway to some 1990s nostalgia.

His powerhouse performance, punchy pacing and exaggerated incredulity demands the audience attention and lends a sense of urgency and significance to the material, that it doesn’t always warrant. But he sweeps the audience up in his passion.

Review date: 28 Jul 2019
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett