2011 Edinburgh Fringe
Life Doctor review
The Life Doctor is one hell of a confusing show. In all honesty, it would be tempting enough to leave the review there and be done with it but The Life Doctor is one of those shows that runs both hot and cold in equal measure.
Firstly, the 'TV show' format is very ambitious, and confident technical work means that the show runs very smoothly where it could have been ruined. This exceptional technical work (which is graciously acknowledged by the cast throughout) aside, the show itself is a mixture of TV segments designed to be a pastiche of Jeremy Kyle and self-help shows, pre-recorded sketches projected onto a giant screen at the rear of the stage, and stream of conscience narrative from the point-of-view of the participants in the 'show'.
Managing to follow all of that? Good.
Without a doubt, the pre-recorded segments are its saving grace; moving gracefully between some really excellent advert parodies and some really cringy comedy moments which will have even the most hard-nosed comedy snob laughing like a drain. Beside these, the live elements seem quite loose and, coupling that with the deliberately, immensely unlikable Life Doctor himself, it is easy to see how an audience might be turned off.
The live elements are almost completely saved by an exceptional performance by Joe Bannister as a lovelorn loser and also by a tremendous sketch about film executives. Other elements such as a post-advert dance sequence failed to hit home with the audience.
The Life Doctor, its writers and cast should be commended for a really ambitious sketch show which packs in a lot of talented performers and quite a few fantastic one-liners. However, the show itself doesn't quite come together properly and leaves something which is slightly confused and aimless in its place. That being said, though, the ending manages to wrap up some of the stranger elements adequately.