‘You might ask what this show’s about,’ says the unfeasibly laidback William Stone. ‘It’s about five minutes too short.’ This sums up the approach of William Stone; a flowing stream of carefully constructed one-liners that appear as if on a conveyor belt. And the strains of fuzzy shoegaze rock before he takes the stage give an indication of the energy levels he brings to his material. He won’t be to everyone’s taste, but he is nothing if not consistent.
What Stone achieves here is a kind of ambient comedy. His relaxed demeanour belies the sharpness of his writing and his meticulous delivery. His jokes work like clockwork: set-up, punchline, and then often a second punchline lurking within, like a cheeky Matryoshka doll. Even when you get used to his method he can still pull an unexpected addendum from leftfield. They do however become so metronomic that they begin to wash over you and its hard afterwards for any particular gags to take root too firmly in the memory. It’s more the overall effect that one takes away.
Stone does mix things up somewhat, aware that an hour of solid one-liners is rather a lot, even if they are of a routinely high standard. He takes a break around the halfway point, nibbling on a Cheesestring, gently chastising the crowd for not bringing their own nibbles, and earning a cheer for downing a Capri Sun. Later he visually embellishes his gags with some of his paintings, with a joke about his ‘extended family’ being particularly good.
Not all the jokes land of course, but the deliberate, unflustered Stone never seems to mind. He takes the odd silence, or even a groan with the merest lift of an eyebrow and a slight tilt of the head, as if to say, ‘Your loss’. It’s this complete nonchalance that makes so much of the show perhaps funnier than it would otherwise be. He never seems too eager to please, and it’s this quiet confidence that helps make ‘Lofi Jokes to Study/Relax to’ a gently winning show.
‘Lofi Jokes to Study/Relax to’ runs until Sun 27 Aug 2023 at Pleasance Courtyard – The Cellar at 20:00