The art of belief: Carey Marx
People warn you shouldn’t meet your heroes, in case they disappoint you. However, I have another lesson for you: never try and interview your idols, for you may get involved in a hellishly long taxi wait (and that’s before we even get to the tortuous ride), then leaving them disappointed – or more likely just pissed off. As for yourself, you’ll feel none too clever, I’ll guarantee that.
So it was that after failing to talk to Stewart Lee, and leaving him waiting about like a ninny, I went in with a stultifyingly heavy heart to go see Carey Marx, hopeful that some top-quality comedy might be just what was needed to lift my spirits.
But then, near the beginning of his set, Marx explained of what was to come: “I’m not here to undermine your beliefs – I’m here to stop them.”
Oh, the optimistic joy that coursed through my veins!
Not to worry though, as the comprehensive debunking session that followed provided plenty of laughs, while reminding us that there’s still a place for intelligent wit on the Fringe. (Which doesn’t always seem a given while here on a daily basis, let me tell you…)
Marx began with a barely believable true tale back from 1985, when he was a Bluecoat at Butlins and hatched a plan with fellow employee Dee to set up a séance as a practical joke to play on other colleagues.
However, the resultant “predictions” bore such scary relation to the truth – and even prophesised things yet to occur – that surely this dalliance with the dreaded Ouija board was proof of a world beyond our own?
Well, Marx himself thinks not. Before long he took us on a trek through the absurdities of being a magician, using the tricks he himself had learnt long ago to explain why he didn’t carry on down the path. Then onto some spoon-bending to show the ridiculousness of Uri Geller maintaining that he has powers of any spectacular sort , before dissecting the nonsensical rules of homeopathy and even offering God to strike him down if He or She really does exist (through a plague of “midge locusts”, given the Scottish setting).
In a world already full of sceptics it could be wondered whether Marx’s show is necessary, even after it builds to a particularly strong finish. However, the answer to that question lies just a mile or two away, where sizeable audiences are showing up to see the truly risible “psychic” Joe Power perform, despite his supposed powers being pretty comprehensively debunked on TV by Derren Brown earlier this year.
According to Marx much of all this hocus pocus and spirituality and religious belief lies in confidence tricks, and in preying upon the weak. With all that in mind it’s easy to see Scoundrel as more than a mere comedy show, but in spite of any wider conclusions that are drawn, it’s still extremely funny. Mind you, that’s all to be expected, as Marx has been an expert at playing around with audience expectations for a good 25 years or so by now.
Carey Marx is on at 7.50pm at The Stand 2 from August 4-29 (not including 16).
