The stand-up comedian Dave Chawner has tackled weighty subjects such as anorexia, teenage mental illness and getting circumcised at 26 for health reasons in his five previous solo shows, so a piece about dogs is something of a liberation – and it shows.
In a knockabout hour, with non-PC jokes aplenty, he introduces us to Rocket and Dotty, a male and female miniature dachshund, respectively – or sausage dogs as he prefers to call them – which he and his partner, Oona, attempt to raise after finding them through borrowmydoggy.com.
This includes “puppy-proofing” their flat in Streatham, south London – “there were ramps everywhere” – meeting family members, lavishing affection upon them and handling complaints about barking. “She can’t help, that – she’s northern Irish,” he says in one of many self-consciously poor-taste quips that probably won’t be winning “best joke of the Fringe” any time soon.
While it is not laugh-out-loud, he seems to enjoy himself knitting it all somewhat loosely together and there are dog pics aplenty, ranging from them nestling up to other mutts, to one of a bulldog having fun on an ill-regarded puppy farm (“They breed dogs like commercial entities”, he inveighs). And there’s also, bizarrely, one of a sweating Prince Andrew that somehow made it into the mix.
Chawner, 33, who is originally from Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, is agreeably jaunty and relaxed in a banter-rich performance; and as one might expect from the author of “Weight Expectations: One Man’s Recovery from Anorexia” he relishes playing with words.
His show, though, is not just about the bubble-world of dogs and their owners. It strives to reach out beyond doggyland to our quest for acceptance and for that, at least, he deserves a bow. Wow.
Dave Chawner: Underdog City Cafe (Las Vegas Room) until 28 August.
Dave Chawner is also appearing in Mental at Laughing Horse at Cabaret Voltaire. Tickets for that are pay what you want. Click here.
