Ed Hamell – The Terrorism of Everyday Life, Soho Theatre, 12th Feb 2008

It’s usual in a review to try to pick out some general categorization for an act, it helps frame them, to place them against their peers for evaluation.

I’m having trouble doing this with Ed Hamell and his show “The Terrorism of Everyday Life” currently at London’s Soho Theatre.

Hamell strides on stage, a compact, bald, be-suited man, hailing from Syracuse, New York and proceeds to play his guitar to within an inch of its life – considering it’s 70+ years old, it’s amazing it survives the battering it receives.

This barrage of noise is a good indication of what the next hour and a half is going to entail. Between the songs, Hamell gives us a potted bio, of his life, loves, drug-taking and hero encounters.

Hamell is an unashamed fan of Bill Hicks, he is even signed to the same label that Hicks was on, but only got to see him live once. And it is Hicks who comes to mind in this show, they cover similar territory – Hamell is unashamed of his drug past, he has a great rock ‘n’ roll sensibility, his comedy is unabashedly personal (even down to Hamell’s song about eating pussy).

It shouldn’t seem so strange that an artist tells the truth, but when you see Hamell it is so refreshing, so direct and so honest – it changes the way you view other acts.

The show is superbly put together – what could be seen as a number of comedy skits and songs actually works well to bring you along the journey of Hamell’s life till you feel an emotional connection.

This show is honest, truthful, direct and puts Hamell next to Hicks in a disturbingly short, but important, list of comedy/music artists that you must see.

Soho Theatre, London – Feb 12-16, 18-23