Rick Kiesewetter- No More Mr Rice Guy

Venue - Laughing Horse @ Temple Bar, Brighton


I'm not sure what could be worse for a stand up comic. The raucous, beer addled one-in-the-morning  crowd that you'd find in Edinburgh's Lizard Lounge or the or the painfully sober, just-finished-work, slightly prudish but polite group of Brightonians at six in the evening. 

Advertised as a work in progress, parts of this act seemed a lot more polished than others. Kiesewetter has a varied background. He's American, Asian and English, married to a French woman, basically, he's from everywhere which gives him pretty much free rein to make jokes about whoever he wants. It also means that his comedic style is from , well,  everywhere. There's the subtler witticisms beloved by so many Brits which lull you into a false sense of security when Kiesewetter pulls the slightly cruder American style of comedy. there's something for everyone in that respect. 

I was uncomfortable with his frequent jokes about Asians, That might be because either I'm too much of a bleeding heart lefty or maybe I don' feel it's OK to laugh at an ethnic group that is still subject to a great deal of racism in the UK. That said, I don't see many Asian stand up comics so as Kiesewetter puts it himself, perhaps it's time we started addressing this more openly?

By his own admission, he's not Russell Brand or that other skinny blond one that's on all the panel shows and I liked that he is unapologetic about his style. I'd be interested to see how this looks by the time it gets to Edinburgh. With the right crowd I think this act is going to be good

3/5 - Definitely worth a look
He's back in Brighton on May 30th May 6 p.m. at the same venue. 

Hear the full set of reviews:
http://www.mixcloud.com/Brightonmoon/new-innocent-faces-and-libel-cases/


Review from 
Lex Moon