Theatre

Rob Deb: A Comic Book Guy!

Alan Hindle | Wednesday 24 August, 2011 13:56

Rob Deb lives with his family, probably in the basement, hunched over his computer, stacks of comics, multi-sided die and D&D encyclopaedias, eating pizza and dreaming of women he has seen depicted in hand-painted lead figurines as dryads. If you are looking to see stereotypes of geeks shattered, this show is not going to do it for you. Except for the revelatory “Romulans are assholes” you will learn nothing. In fact, if you know anything about Romulans you already understand they are smug bastards who scratch starships with their keys. Deb’s comedy is very much in the tradition of the “Has Anybody Here Ever Noticed/ What’s Up With That?. I call it Reference or Recognition comedy. Unfortunately, the demographic here is so very, very small that unless the room is full of hardcore Warcraftspeople nobody will understand a thing Deb is saying. I am actually hip to the unhip, having played Dungeons and Dragons back in the days when the industry was so puny the gaming books were printed in blue ink to save money. I’m talking Basic D&D. Yes, basic.
There was, once upon a time, something before Advanced. Comic books were a quarter then (probably about a shilling) and underwear was always outerwear. Already, I may lost readers with even this minimalist foray into inside references. Unfortunately, even if this material is your meat I doubt you will not find much to nibble on in this show. Deb tries to have it both ways, to be a geek and to disavow himself with claims that comic-con gals won’t sleep with him because he is not geeky enough. Tragic, yes, but not enough to make a Fringe show.

Camden Fringe Festival page

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