It took Tony Law a decade to find his voice and a year to mislay it. After hacking away at comedy’s coalface he hit a rich seam in 2012 with the Foster’s Award-nominated show Maximum Nonsense. The sequel is Nonsense Overdrive but a better title might be Nonsense Underwritten.
The voice that was so distinctive back then is now lost among lashings of scattershot silliness. Last year’s set had more concrete themes amid the madness while this is mostly absurdist jokes, non-sequiturs and, by the lavishly bearded star’s own admission, “shouty bollocks”.
Some promising ideas occasionally slip through. Law explains that he handled sleepless nights with his small children by watching crime DVDs and now randomly breaks into Sopranos-style gangsterisms. There is a flash of genuine feminist fury when discussing his daughter’s buxom Wonderwoman doll. He grandly announces that he invented leaning and gets comic mileage out of describing how he time-travelled and taught the Romans to chill out.
But much of this depends on Law’s frisky personality and there were times when things drifted too much. Newcomers to his eccentric charm may adore this but veteran devotees may mutter that 2012’s vintage was superior.
Until Jan 11 (020 7478 0100, sohotheatre.com)
