Highly original stand-up meets bizarre sci-fi fantasy.Summary
Rating
Excellent
I like weird shit. Anything out of the ordinary – bring it on. So, reading that J.O.I. is about a character caught up in “a conspiracy linked to the porn videos he consumes”, I’m immediately intrigued.
The character in question is Christopher Lieberman, an immediately appealing 21-year-old performer who has crafted this delightful oddity combining smartly put together stand-up comedy and a startlingly original narrative which moves along with refreshing unpredictability.
Neatly dressed in black twinned with a jazzy tie, Lieberman delivers his work with an unassuming confidence, weaving some finely turned phrases into the story – he clearly relishes language and has a real knack for assembling lines that are both funny and lovingly put together.
Lieberman is a trans man, and his particular biology informs aspects of the show, specifically a form of “phantom limb” sensation he experiences in his non-existent penis. Added to this, his predilection for J.O.I. porn (jerk-off instruction) kick-starts a tale which takes in both a love triangle and aliens conducting spooky experiments in a basement flat.
The two men in Lieberman’s life are Jordan and Simon. The former is a one-sided infatuation that frustrates as much as it satisfies Lieberman’s very niche interests, while the latter is a more traditionally romantic entanglement. Alongside the weirdness of the alien sub-plot, J.O.I. has some potentially profound insights to offer into the nature of love and relationships, and such is Lieberman’s likability we empathise with him easily, wanting things to end happily for him.
Lieberman has created a show that brims with wit and originality. It flies by at a lean 45 minutes and seems perfectly designed for the festival circuit. I get the sense that Lieberman would benefit enormously from some sort of mentorship (or perhaps a collaborative director) to help boost his innate confidence and allow him to really spread his wings as a performer. But even without such assistance, Lieberman is a highly talented early-stage comedian who surely has a distinguished career ahead of him. I shall certainly be interested to see what he comes up with next – and hope it’s just as weird and wonderful as this.
Written by: Christopher Lieberman
J.O.I plays at Canal Café Theatre until Saturday 5th October.
Further information and booking are available here.