John Gordillo: Divide & Conga

By his own admission, John Gordillo is probably the biggest failure in the room. After setting out to write a show about politics, he has, in fact, written a show entirely about his father. What Gordillo has produced amounts essentially to a personal therapy session, a comedic catharsis – the final twenty minutes or so of which aren’t even funny. This should be self-absorbed, pompous and utterly un-entertaining. In fact, there’s more gentle humour and pathos in Divide and Conga than in a great many Fringe shows.

Where this works is that, despite his claims, Divide and Conga really is about politics. But where other comedians might rip into political leaders, Gordillo’s ire is reserved entirely for his Spanish father – a staunch socialist, brought up under Franco, who divines the face of Hitler in most low-level clerical jobs in the South of England. But one is never in any doubt that Gordillo loves and respects his dad. In this way, the discussion of politics here is brought down to a level which is both personal and, because of the closeness of their relationship, deeply incisive. Anyway, the final 20 minutes—which enacts a bitterly emotional confrontation between the pair—isn’t really devoid of laughs. The closing video dedicated to German animals killed in War is inspired: "they had no choice."

Of course, this prowess shouldn’t really come as much surprise: despite having taken a long break from stand-up Gordillo is an old comedy hand, the director behind Eddie Izzard’s hugely successful Live at the Ambassadors and Unrepeatable DVDs. So Gordillo is comfortable as a comedian. But there's also an ease with which he criticises his socialist father. Rather like a lapsed Catholic, Gordillo is a lapsed socialist, and as such, his attacks upon his father are, equally, attacks on himself. This is an insider's critique: it is savage and sensitive in equal measure.