InsTED Talks

Review by: Paul Towers, 15 February 2018

InsTED Talks - part of the Leicester Comedy Festival

Written and performed by Mark Vigil

Upstairs @ The Western, 15 February 2018

“highly talented comedian Mark Vigil”

TED Talks are those cringe-worthy corporate inspirational talks so beloved of company middle management.

Under the pretext of providing TED Talks by various people highly talented comedian Mark Vigil presented us with four very different characters in one show.

First up was ‘inspirational speaker’ Zack Goodman, a preppy, over confident New Yorker who doesn’t quite believe the rubbish he is spouting. He is like a bad Youtube-er with verbal diarrhoea. His constant back tracking and admission that he has copied and pasted everyone else’s ideas was hilarious. Add into the mix some clever original songs and this was a very strong character.

Next up we stepped back in time to the year 2000 and dropped in to a product launch TED Talk by the CEO of Nokia, before it created its own obsolescence. This was especially funny for those of us over 30 and able to remember when Nokia was a field leader in mobile phones. The accompanying PowerPoint presentation only added to the hilarity.

Next up, and back in the present day, we were introduced to the bargain basement Bear Grylls, Jolyon Kean, an intrepid explorer who, in a desperate attempt to get some BBC airtime, has blagged a commission to document some of the crappist towns in the UK. Flicking through his camera of bad selfies, he shows us round the dregs of Dover and the perils of Trip Advisor. All great fun.

The final character in Vigil’s compendium of characters is Walter Cundy, an old Hollywood songwriter who seems to have appropriated the works of many famous names. To my mind this was the least strong character of the night.

That said, this was an evening of great hilarity with mostly strong, funny characters presented to a sold out audience. Well worth catching when he is next in the city. Mark is part of The Same Faces improv group and full details of his and their appearances can be found on their FaceBook page, The Same Faces.

Upstairs at The Western http://upstairsatthewestern.com/
First published on Western Gazette