Andy Zaltzman – 22/02/09 (unedited)
Posted by jameskettle on February 21, 2009
Like Richard Herring, Andy Zaltzman has had to adjust to working more frequently on his own these days – in his case, because his former partner John Oliver has been co-opted onto The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, New York’s ne plus ultra of topical comedy. But the extra space seems to suit Zaltzman, giving him more opportunity to develop his unusually fanciful approach to satire. There’s a tendency for British comics who take their cues from the news agenda to start simply hammering home the ridiculousness of the people in power – anyone who’s been bored to the verge of conservatism by right-on stand-ups incessantly pointing out that George Bush gets his words wrong will know the limitations of that format. What’s fresh about Zaltzman’s act is that he uses political stories and personalities as jumping-off points for his love of flowery language and surreal analogies. At the same time, there’s a smart analytical mind here, providing pithy and hard-to-gainsay arguments along with each bizarre image.
