Fringe veteran Reginald D Hunter returns once again with a show that combines outrageous humour with stories on his past twenty-one years in the UK as well as his family and upbringing in Georgia.
Whilst Hunter’s purely controversial routines gain the biggest laughs and groans from the audience, such as his bizarre dream involving him in a canoe with such illustrious celebrities such as Katie Price and O. J. Simpson that caused walkouts when he told it in Ireland, it’s his personal anecdotes about his family that truly demonstrate his skill at intertwining his storytelling ability with his capacity to shock and surprise, which can be seen in his anecdotes about his religious sister handling a phone pervert and his mother’s unconventional relationship with the white women she worked for.
Hunter also addresses Brexit in his own idiosyncratic way, explaining the former to his 99 year old father in terms of lottery tickets, as well as providing a similar approach when he moves onto the issues tearing America apart, providing a darkly-funny manifesto for his hypothetical presidency that features a novel approach to stopping gun crime. This last area allows Hunter to branch off into a detailed story about filming his latest BBC documentary that hilariously highlights the British underestimation of Deep South racism as well as providing a mental image of Hunter dressed in a Confederate uniform.
An American Facing The Beast and Niggas (and yes, Hunter once again does go into his use of the dreaded ‘N-word’ in the title) is another successful blending of anecdotes and dark humour from a comedian who has been doing this for long enough now that it seems effortless. Hunter manages to inform, entertain and offend in equal measures whilst keeping the audience on his side for the entirety of the show, which is evident from the thunderous applause he received at the end.
No no no this was dull dreary sorry excuse of a show. Tired misogyny posing as controversy.
Totally dead atmosphere in the theatre.
We went to see Danny o Brien afterwards- he was funny, witty, thought provoking and had the whole audience in stitches!
Never a 5 Star show, not this year. Rambling, stumbling and poorly delivered RDH seemed out of place and out of touch with the audience in this venue. I am and will remain a fan but the show on 24/08/2018 was a stinker.
Have to agree with other reviewers. Had seen RDH before so looked forward to seeing him again but was bitterly disappointed. He appeared ‘depressed’ and not in touch with the audience at all. His parting comment of ‘fulfilling his contractual obligation’ says it all, looked as if he would have liked to have been anywhere else.
Playing in areas like racist Burnley doesn’t help and typical of Americans not grasping what is acceptable in the UK the title using the N word just encourages the racists in ignorant northern towns to use this terminology
If rgd had any sense he would think first before he names his stage show to the UK audiences
It might be acceptable in America but as a black man living in Burnley I’m highly offended even tho rgd may think it’s a joke
I dont care if its comedy it doesn’t sit well with me that he can jet off back to America or even London but he has decided to educate the people in Burnley its acceptable to use or say the N word in jest
Whilst he gets his pay check and stumbles around the country counting his coin …
Not cool rgd!!