Andrew Lawrence - Social Leprosy for Beginners and Improvers

Published Tuesday 14 August 2007 at 16:05 by Ben Dowell

No one is immune from the acid tongue of Andrew Lawrence - whether it is people from the “leper colonies” of Fife or Yates’ wine bar, “home counties cousin f*****s” who “groom spaniels”, “shit-faced tossers” generally or indeed himself - a person he variously described as looking like a “special needs character from a Dickens novel”, a “ginger c***” who is “blessed with the voice of Joe f****g Pasquale”.

One wonders how much this persona and set - about withdrawing from human company - is based on genuine rage and anger but the fearlessly vicious, volcanic articulacy and verbal acrobatic which drives is certainly spellbinding, forcing you to forget quite how obvious his targets are.

Lawrence is also armed with a crouching manic physicality which is at times reminiscent of a younger Lee Evans. But his courage and hubris can sometimes let him down - I didn’t really think a great deal of his description of people with Down’s Syndrome as “moon-faced c***s” and neither did most of the audience.

It was also perhaps none too wise to pick on the biggest and angriest-looking man in the audience and accuse him of looking like a Romany pederast manning a Dodgem ride. But provided he remains unscarred, he is definitely a comedian to watch…followed by some fresh air and perhaps a bath.