Processing his millennial angst through persistent beats and thirsty AutoTune, Adam Flood’s intense new show lays his stand-up across aspects of his established Comedy Rave format, making for a distinctive if sometimes discordant spectacle.
Now 33, and the last man in his friend group still committed to the club, he rails against destination weddings and settling down, affecting to continue going hard, never gentle into the good night. Despite yelling down the mic, defiantly holding court, in moments of vulnerability he discloses how far he’s come since he was a teenage drug dealer across county lines, as well as sharing the decidedly mixed feelings he retains about his former tech startup job.
Modulating his delivery through the electronic wizardry at his disposal, Flood is entertainingly destabilising, the punchlines coming from varied angles as he alternates between commanding and pathetic. Still, Life and Death of the Party is a very, very busy show, grindingly relentless at times. And it feels as if several set-pieces should be afforded greater chance to just sit and breathe for a bit without him hurtling pell-mell into the next. The premise is generally sound, a vibrant clash of bombastic and intimate artforms. However, his execution needs some finer tuning.
Adam Flood: Life and Death of the Party, Monkey Barrel Comedy (Cabaret Voltaire), until 30 Aug, 10pm