Kieran Hodgson review — a Yorkshireman gets lost in the USA
You may know Kieran Hodgson for his four Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated shows, his YouTube TV parodies, his role on the sitcom Two Doors Down or just for his bit part in the superhero film flop The Flash. It's that troublesome role — 'Sandwich Guy' — that provides the pivot for Voice of America, his latest gag-rich yet erudite mix of satire, confessional and funny voices.
If you've never seen the smoothly self-doubting Yorkshireman perform, you might be deceived by the beaming figure in double denim who strides to the stage at the Soho Theatre to the strains of Born in the USA. He contrasts the big-game glamour of American elections with the dowdiness of Keir Starmer. Yet is Hodgson wowed by America or duped by it? Is his idea of America lost in the greater optimism of his Nineties childhood? Or does his Europhile English teacher father have a point when he derides a country whose sheen has above all always concealed a passion for power?
Any heavy stuff, though, is safely lodged in a far larger dose of fun stuff. Hodgson first lets us into the thrill of being offered The Flash after the viral success of his TV parodies briefly gave him showbiz currency during lockdown. Then he opens up about the challenge it posed him. He is 'a voices guy' yet, after a day of filming, his perkily ruthless new US agent informs him that his voice needs work. He gets the mechanics of accents but does he get the modern American mentality? Is he as off the pace as the Anglophile who is amazed that Hodgson is visiting his English pub in Portland, Oregon, rather than staying home in Britain to celebrate the Queen's birthday?
You couldn't say the stakes are sky-high: it's a bit part and we know he keeps it. But The Flash gives a spine to strong stories and sharp observations as he talks about, and impersonates, several American presidents. He makes merry with his nerdishness, his upbringing, the disparity between the 'stupid America' of modern myth and the cultural elite he sits among at the opera in New York. Can he keep Donald J Trump out of it like he wants to? Good luck keeping Trump out of anything, buddy. It's another richly entertaining hour from a consistently captivating comedian.
★★★★☆
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