How does one describe Josh Glanc? Glanc, by the way, is pronounced like ‘glance’, which he pokes fun at in his new hour, ‘Family Man’. Josh is a comedian of all sorts — musical, clown, alternative, interactive, thoughtful, and above all else, a total goofball. Josh effortlessly draws his audience in with his charming onstage persona of a lovable ‘silly billy’. 

Wearing a cropped top with a classic ‘tramp stamp’ printed across its front and a lanyard, Josh uses his boyish impishness as a way to play with the audience through songs, games, and unexpected queries. ‘Family Man’ has less of the sketch-style comedy that Josh’s audiences may be accustomed to as he transcends his reliance on characters to form a completely new style of comedy.

It’s not quite clown, despite Josh’s use of classic clowning techniques, such as repetition and audience interaction; and it would be an understatement to call Josh a musical comedian, despite his many songs throughout the show. He even uses tropes of traditional stand-up comedy as he subverts ‘running the light’ — a common mistake stand-up comedians make by overrunning their set times.

‘Family Man’ is a meta commentary on the art form of comedy itself while being first and foremost somewhat of a playground for the audience. Full of unexpected moments impossible not to laugh at, this show comments on the difficulties of performing while Josh makes it look easy just by having fun. Without a deeper underlying thru-line, it’s hard to discern what Josh’s overall message is, but Josh’s ingenuity and ability to perfectly capture his inner child should always be celebrated. And by the end of the show, Josh’s audience feels like one happy ‘family’, a little better off for the day than we were before.

‘Family Man’ is at Monkey Barrel 1 until Sun 25 Aug 2024 (except Wed 7 & 14), at 15:20