Wu-Tang Dan Review

Wu-Tang Dan started with a video clip of Daniel Leigh, walking down a garden, approaching the camera. Right when the video frame was a close-up of Dan’s face, the man himself jumped onto the stage. The bar had been set high by this great entrance, but the rest of the show managed to live up to expectation.

Wu-Tang Dan is an autobiographical stand-up routine by Daniel Leigh, a Jewish boy who loves hip-hop and sees his life as a very long film. He desperately hopes that the imaginary audience watching said film is enjoying the movie. I am sure they did, at least for the duration of his stand-up show.

The show started on a self-referential note, when Dan explained why he chose “Wu-Tang Dan” as the title to his show, as opposed to other options such as “Paranoid Dandroid” or “Dante’s Divine Comedy.” Dan talked about his life being Jewish, with some hilarious reflections on circumcision; he spoke about how the New Testament is a reverse “Good Almighty”, early adulthood, sexual frustrations and the paradox of being a nice guy and still not getting any. The audience was consistently laughing through the show and some, including me, were giggling hysterically at times.

The man, the myth, the legend.

However, “Wu-Tang Dan” combines very brilliant and original material with some very formulaic comedy. The self deprecating humour and the jokes about lacking a sexual life were quite predictable and pretty much the same type of jokes I hear in almost every stand-up routine. That said, I really loved Dan’s brilliant thoughts on religion and his original comparisons of historical characters with modern-day celebrities.

The stand-up routine devolved into a bunch of disjointed anecdotes, but Dan manages to pull all the anecdotes together into a coherent whole with a conclusion about finding his true vulnerability on a toilet seat. Dan ranted a little bit at the end of the show, and some of his last jokes felt flat, but he left the audience satisfied nonetheless.

Daniel Leigh is an incredibly entertaining and engaging comedian. His rhetorical style reminds me of some well-known comedians, like Andy Samberg. When the show was over, it didn’t feel like I had just listened to Dan talk for an entire hour. Daniel kept the same energy from start to finish, and every single line was delivered with perfect timing.

Daniel Leigh definitely didn’t “jump the shark” in the movie of his life when he started doing stand-up comedy.  I definitely want to see more of his original material.

68%, a strong 2.1