Review: John Tothill: Thank God This Lasts Forever

John Tothill straddles the line between surreal stand-up and character comedy: coming on like that irritating friend who won’t stop the anecdotes, but slowly building his apparently disconnected thoughts into a gentle appeal for a life lived in the moment of joy. He eschews the macho certainty for a mildly camp enthusiasm that charms while displaying a polymath’s enthusiasm for knowledge.

Although he can get lost in his autobiography, Tothill manages to bring his idiosyncratic adventures as a primary school teacher, hedonist and malaria patient together to comment on the pressures of modern life and social expectations. He works the crowd well, creating an immediate intimacy, and responding with grace to his audience. Comparing himself to Socrates and Oscar Wilde notwithstanding, he is witty, self-deprecating and warm. Despite losing his job, he has not lost his teacher’s dynamism and fascination with facts: the heartbeat of a mouse and a rat who died of orgasms become key subjects as he appears to develop a philosophy of life in real time.

While some of his humour relies too heavily on his personality, and he does meander around his message, Tothill has a budding ability to combine the comedian as storyteller with telling observations.