Phil Wang's new show, Uh Oh, finds the comedian older and wiser, musing on life's mundanity and the nagging feeling that things have got worse. The ever-even-tempered standup is now officially in the territory of an ageing millennial, having mastered the art of growing a moustache and bought a house in a “cool” part of London, where he lives with his houseplants.
Classic riffs and gentle mockery
Largely, the show delivers more of the observational routines that have made his name: his classic riffs on what it means to be both British and Chinese, his thoughts on gentrification – you best believe he wants a Gail's in Peckham – and his resentment at finding his views becoming progressively less progressive. All of it is gently mocking: mainly of himself, but of others, too, to varying degrees of effect.
A bit about cyclists, who are apparently asking for a death wish by venturing out on a 2D vehicle, feels more snarky than he may have intended. But his David Bowie impression could use a stage all of its own.
A king of linguistics and loopholes
It might not push the boundaries. But, at his heights, Wang is a king of linguistics and loopholes. Why, he asks, is being described as a person of colour perfectly acceptable, but “coloured person” deeply offensive? Of course he thinks about his girlfriend when he masturbates – it's just that his mind wanders to whether she will walk in and catch him doing it. Revelling in life's mundanity, he makes it bloom into material.
The show is strung together by the nagging feeling that things have got worse. Long gone are the days of sweeping millennial myths, when we were told we could achieve one-eighth of an orgasm through a spidery hand gesture performed by our classmates. Now, he's at the stage of mourning the loss of his once-slender neck.
A lesson in living in the moment
There's something bleakly moving about Wang's grownup outlook: the realisation that everything he thought those wild parties and long conversations with his parents were leading to was actually just the thing. It's a lesson in living in the moment. And a taste of the halcyon days of youth comes at the close of a pondering show, if not a consistently revelatory one. On tour until 23 May.
