Edinburgh Festival 2010

Joey Page’s Marvellous Human Museum

Roll up Roll up! Come while away a magical hour with Malcolm Hardee award nominee for original comedic content Joey Page.

Meander through a rambling and pleasantly distracting journey, looking at the subject of human species through the skewed and off beat looking glass that is Joey Page’s chaotic mind.

Veering from bespoke minutiae to the far-fetched future. Joey presents charmingly sporadic snapshots of human life and muddles them into his surreal yet quaintly imagined human museum.

And here is a review from last years show

Joey Page - Eccentric Treasure Of The Future

“Surreal comedy minus the clichés and predictable jokes, this show was a breath of fresh air. Wearing a trilby, trenchcoat and various antique beads, Joey Page delivered an hour of out-of-this-world humour with 'no real jokes' and the result was surprisingly funny. His 'Mighty Boosh'-esque approach included 'plays' between pens, pencils and blazers, a hilarious impersonation of Nicholas Lyndhurst and a genius take on the playground game 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' where the 'magic claw never fails'. As well as his spaced out magical humour, the charming cockney did use some unoriginal Michael Jackson and credit crunch jokes, but in a way that mocked this conventional style of comedy. Fresh and imaginative, Joey Page injected an inventive, extraordinary dimension into stand-up.”

Just The Tonic @ The Caves, 6 - 30 Aug 2009 (not 18), 8.00pm, prices vary, fpp 65

tw rating: 5/5

This Years Reviews

Very enjoyable 4 stars

“The most obvious thing about Joey Page is that he’s very strangely dressed. It’s not the tweed jacket and tie, or the trilby with the feather in it. It’s mostly the sparkly black leggings. The next obvious thing is that he doesn’t fit the bombastic, loud, confident stereotype of the stand-up comedian. He’s softly spoken, self-deprecating, a little fidgety, perhaps betraying a little nervousness. He’s also very, very funny. His style of humour is similar to that of Ross Noble: he starts telling a story, he gets distracted by the need to clarify some small detail of it, and suddenly he heads off into the surreal world of his own overactive imagination (in which, for example, bank holidays are when banks go on holiday to France and get fined by their own ATMs). And each surreal interlude seems to end up overlapping with parts of a previous one- a giant mechanical duck shows up an improbable number of times- which gives a pleasing sense of continuity. His delivery is very good and he’s obviously well rehearsed; he talks quickly and fluidly, and gets through a lot of material in his hour. And the Marvellous Human Museum mentioned in the title? That’s the title of the show he keeps saying he’s about to start, but in fact he spends the whole hour entertaining us with a discussion of how he might best start “the show”, before eventually running out of time, making an excuse, and running off stage. Surreal indeed.”

Joey Page's Marvellous Human Museum

So Comedy/Just the Tonic

“Armed with Red Bull, a leather case, and clothing befitting the love-child of Charlie Chaplin and "an indie fuckbag", Joey Page introduces his Marvellous Human Museum. Page paints wonderfully weird scenarios such as conversations between bank courtesy pens, and how pretending to be a ghost sadly fails as a mugging defence. The format of his show that never truly starts or ends blurs the boundary between comic intent and incident, and at times struggles to fulfil the expectation it builds. The dishevelled structure dilutes some of the material, yet the content itself is both vivid and vivacious. Page is affable and eloquent, with an urban impishness and insight that bodes nothing but promise and potential for his future.”

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 4 - 29 Aug (not 17), 8.55pm, £6.00 - £7.00, fpp 79

tw rating: 3/5

FRINGE REVIEW - Joey Page's Marvellous Human Museum

“Joey Page is an instantly likable chap from Bromley who isn’t dressed like a stereotypically stand-up comedian. Kitted out in snakeskin leggings and a trilby hat, he aims not to talk about subject matter that comedians normally cover.

Reminiscent of Rhod Gilbert and Mark Watson’s babbling style and barely stopping for breath – Joey causes the crowd to instantly warm to him. Deviating off into tangents about all manner of things, he insists he’s about to start the show, some 25 minutes into the hour.

We learn about his trips to Centre Parcs and the subsequent visits from an Uncle-Ben look a like bailiff and what he’d like to do with a bag for life. Joey introduces two surreal sketches involving talking pens and tea-bags which make for a refreshingly original and funny section of his routine.

Random props are given out to the audience and his banter with them is friendly. Joey handled a front row of young cackling girls with patience, where most other comedians would rip the attention-seeking youngsters to shreds.

With five minutes left, Joey decides to ’start’ the show and talks about archaeologists and a dinosaur that changes their name by de-poll. which demonstrates that the hour was indeed cleverly crafted together.

There is no specific theme or message that Joey is tyring to get across, but the audience continually laughed throughout this general feel-good show. Well worth an hour of your Fringe time.”

tw rating: 4/5

FEST Comedy Review - Joey Page's Marvellous Human Museum

“Joey Page insists he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He makes a running gag of “Sorry, I got a bit distracted, but I’m just about to start...” Of course, this is merely a clever affectation in a very well structured production, full of artful callbacks. However, he is at his most average and predictable when adhering to such standup staples and compositional rigour. It is in offhand, absurd one-liners that Page’s wit really gets a chance to shine. And those moments of brilliance do more than redeem Page from mediocrity, making for a very good show.”

tw rating: 3/5

"Brilliantly inventive and imaginative and very funny" Josie Long