Viggo Venn: Only One comedy review – High-energy clowning
The comedian's sparky clowning delivers plenty of laughs but audience-led improvisation leaves his latest show running out of steam
Norway’s Viggo Venn plays a cockier, kinkier Mr Bean in this slice of audience-led clowning. An alumnus of Philippe Gaulier, Venn went on to win Britain’s Got Talent in 2023 by making a show of Simon Cowell’s capacity to embrace nonsense, and here, repetition beyond the point of reason is the root of his comedy. That winning performance was an extended Russian Doll bit whereby he rips off and unveils endless layers of hi-vis vests while dancing to Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’. That works well over six minutes; less so over 60.
There is a loose narrative to Only One: Venn falls in love, gets married, has a child and gets divorced. A mic’d up audience member forces Venn to improvise at their behest; a risk that places slightly too much faith in the directorial vision of the crowd. There is some humour in Venn’s attempts to stop the show from being derailed entirely, though that wears off by the 15th time he was stuck responding to the wails of an imagined baby. His high-energy clowning was entertaining for the most part, though lost steam and attention, coming to a natural end ten minutes short of its run time.
Viggo Venn: Only One, Pleasance Dome, until 30 August, 8.10pm; picture: Kit McCarthy.