Spencer Jones Presents: The Herbert in Proper Job

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what The Herbert is. He's certainly some kind of man, possibly on the autistic spectrum or suffering from the same affliction as Mr Bean. He wears a T-shirt depicting a skateboarding budgie, and appears to have a coat hanger jammed against his shoulders. His lower half is bedecked in white tights and underpants which cling so we see the outline of his penis. He carries a bag of props and clowns with each item for varying amounts of time. He's perhaps best summed up as a joke that comes perilously close to outstaying its welcome.

 

When playing the character, what Spencer Jones tends to do is pick up an object, employ it in a slightly rude way and then state the price he paid for it. That's really all there is to Proper Job. At first the audience is so overcome by his strangeness that each escalating party piece is met with thunderous laughter. Then comes a lull as we find ourselves bored with watching the same objects being only slightly re-purposed. When his antics somehow become funny again, the show's 45 minutes are up. Jones sends us on our way with a song, the multi-tracked innovations of which suggest a far more serious talent than he otherwise demonstrates.