Camden Fringe: It’s All Geek to Me, The Camden Head

I am a self-professed band/geek/drama nerd rather than a comic book convention/fan fiction nerd. As It’s All Geek to Me favours nerds of the latter sort, I was slightly concerned that I would be completely lost in a sea of entertainment that was completely unfunny to me. Instead, I got 60 minutes of stand-up that enlightened me on a whole different dialect of geek while highlighting the similarities between the sects. 

In his cleverly constructed set, Dillon-Trenchard neatly deconstructs the most prominent elements in the life of a geek. His show is divided into separate modules, each introduced by appropriately nerdy sound bites from geeky movies, jingles and music.

As Pete seamlessly transitions from ‘Dating and Love’ to ‘Conventions’ to ‘Fan Fiction’ to ‘Furries’ and then ‘Sci-fi groups’ – obviously explained all through the eyes of a nerd – one cannot help but be somewhat endeared (and sometimes mildly horrified) at his very smart, self-deprecating jokes with which people of all classifications can identify or appreciate.

Despite very occasionally getting lost in the more detailed technicalities of this particular brand of geek, Dillon-Trenchard’s instruction at the beginning of the show to ‘let the geek references wash over you’, did ease the concern of being out of one’s element. Even if the content sometimes went slightly over my head, there was always enough general humour in the delivery and the connotation to get something out of it.

Most impressive was Dillon-Trenchard’s ability to be tremendously funny on the spot. Making fun of himself for a minor slip from his material, or replying to audience responses and reactions, some of Pete’s best one-liners came from the cat-like reflexes of his funny bone.

As my first show of this year’s Camden Fringe, It’s All Geek To Me sets an excellent precedent for the festival, representing exactly what the Fringe should be: refreshing, unique, clever and yes, a little bit geeky.