Reuben Krum is a racist, fascist, socialist, Nazi-loving, Aryan-looking, Jewish, gerbil-loving cabaret comedian out to entertain and make people laugh and he certainly succeeds. A VCA musical theatre graduate, Reuben is a confident strong singer and talented performer with great comic-timing, who knows how to work an audience.He remarks during the show he’s been accused of selecting material which targets the ‘lowest common denominator’. He does swear and sing about genitals, ejaculation, objects and animals being inserted where they shouldn’t be, but don’t be fooled. Reuben’s humour is intelligent and he quips and curses on many levels.
Though I did feel Reuben, as a performer, was better than the show itself. The material, as strong as the songs are, let him down. Overall, there didn’t seem to be much coherency in the evening, how the songs were connected and why the show progressed the way it did. Starting with an out-of-the-blue Guns N’ Roses song called ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and ending with a song about the lighting guy having diarrhoea, didn’t help. There were often dead moments between songs and Reuben, more than once, struggled to find a punchy segue from one song to the next.
The songs themselves were mostly brilliant, but they were not his. He didn’t write them, which surprised me because it is not mentioned in the venue or during the course of the performance. If one didn’t know Stephen Lynch or had never heard of King Missile, one could be forgiven for believing Reuben wrote the songs himself. There was no program and no mention on the poster that Sarah Silverman, Stephen Lynch and a range of talented artists were responsible for the material Reuben was delivering.
Given that the songs, like “I Think You’re a Nazi” (Lynch), “Taxi Driver” (Lynch), “Dead Puppies” (Lynch), “German Cars” (Silverman) and “Steal Stuff From Work” (King Missile), were the reason for the bulk of the laughs, it left me feeling like the writers played a large role in the show’s success.
In saying that, Reuben delivered the songs beautifully and drew the laughs the songs deserved. He is a natural, gifted artist, who would benefit from working with a strong writer or director to produce a show which relies less on the witticisms of a few clever lyricists and more on his obvious ability to tell a story, sing the house down and entertain an audience.
Reuben Krum’s Naughty Show
Venue: The Butterfly Club | 204 Bank Street, South Melbourne
Dates: Thur 1 to Sat 10 Nov
Times: Thur 1 to Sat 3 Nov at 9pm, Sun 4 Nov at 8pm
Plus bonus late shows on Fri 9 and Sat 10 Nov at 10.30pm
Tickets: $25 full / $20 con & groups of 8+
Duration: one hour approx
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
