Rory Scovel: Show Must Go On

It has a larky spirit, but also a new conviction. It’s his most bleakly topical and poignantly personal hour but smothered in enough layers of self-deprecating silliness that you might not notice.

It takes Scovel about 20 seconds too long to get the trap loaded and set into place because the audience can’t follow when he suddenly starts ignoring them. But he sticks to it, and when it’s all set up and he can snap the jaws shut, the punch of it is explosive. Show Must Go On is a legitimate achievement for Scovel.

Many comedians get accused by their friends and family of being “always on.” Scovel certainly jokes as if he falls into that stereotype and acts the part onstage, but you also get the sense that he actually drops the act offstage. Or do you? Would it matter if you knew the real answer?