Faith, Hope & Sanity: A Few Jokes About Religion Before It Kills Us All/Pat Condell, Etc Theatre, Camden, London <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->
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Your support makes all the difference.For Pat Condell, a veteran of the comedy circuit, Faith, Hope & Sanity is his second coming after a long time away from stand-up during which he turned his hand to writing comedy for others as well as writing straight plays. His return to performing stems, according to recent interviews, from having something to say "rather than just [a show] as a vehicle for stand-up". Condell's vision of his own work means the result is a carefully crafted lecture-cum-stand-up routine that makes pointed remarks that are not always backed up by cast-iron gags.
The discourse flows nicely enough over familiar territory, evangelic Christianity in the US ("they know who 'spake unto' who but they don't know where Italy is"), the absurdities of the Bible (he cites the book of Deuteronomy as advocating mass murder) and the "repressive" religion of Catholicism, from which he himself has lapsed.
Condell has the canny ability to sometimes soften the weightier blows he makes on the idiosyncrasies of religion, such as the light-hearted way that he brushes off how he told a couple that sending their child to a single-faith school was akin to child abuse. His measured tone, however, gives the anecdote the feel of a conversation opener rather than a comic construct - he's playing devil's advocate and not always finishing off the job. Where he does go in for the kill, proceedings can seem a little clunky. For example, he wryly remarks of Saudi Arabia that there is nothing wrong with the place that "civilisation won't cure".
Elsewhere the show relies on some groanworthy gags ("Ramadan is no picnic") or ones that are lame ("if Jesus heard a sick joke he could cure it") or hackneyed ("...about as popular as beer and bacon sarnies in a mosque").
There are issues here, like single faiths schools and the teaching of creationism in schools, that are ripe for exploration and with comic potential that goes unexplored, meanwhile Condell turns a nice phrase here and there (eg that being a Catholic is like being in "the brotherhood of the damned") but doesn't fully hone the weapons in his arsenal.
Booking details: 020-7482 4857; www.patcondell.net
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