Coming from the small town of Tiverton in South Devon, so small that ‘the Internet’ isn’t necessary, Alex Kitson made his way to America and came back to tell the tale. His debut hour starts off light, with jokes about horses, Athlete’s Foot and the ‘unsexy’ job of a teaching assistant. 

Throughout his bits, Kitson expertly weaves in his love of American culture and politics, hinting at his American dream to visit the land of the free, home of the brave. But after charming the audience with his excitable persona, Kitson asks: ‘Can I be real?’ reminding us that he grew up on the cusp between Gen Z and Millennial. But as he asks this, he brings the audience in more closely as he starts to tell his ‘secret.’

The secret is a harrowing one, one that has clearly haunted Kitson through his foray into comedy and his relationship with (and subsequent breakup from) his now-ex. But despite the tricky subject material and how that’s informed Kitson’s hesitancy to open up, he manages to keep it light, throwing asides and well-timed riffs into a diary entry from his teenage years.

In the show’s final ten minutes, Kitson effortlessly calls back to his lighter jokes, tying them into his show’s greater theme. Although he asks earlier to ‘be real’, Kitson’s final epiphany of the show proves that he uses comedy as a way to retell the story on his terms. In doing so, he pulls in a favorite quote while referencing an earlier memory from his childhood. He adds in some visual symbolism, going the extra mile to bring the show full-circle.

As a whole, ‘Must I Paint You a Picture’ captures how observational and personal comedy can work in tandem to tell an emotional story. While Kitson’s nervous energy sometimes gets in the way of his timing, it more often serves his delivery by quickly creating and breaking tension. At just 27 years old, Kitson already has a few impressive credits under his belt, and we only expect him to garner more.

‘Must I Paint You a Picture?‘ is at Hoots @ Potterow until Sun 25 Aug 2024 at 22:55