Five Stars
People are in awe of TJ Dawe, and it’s no wonder; he’s a master of digression. But that’s not important right now.
In his latest show, the Fringe maven delivers fascinating insights into ordinary things while describing the five weeks he spent tending bar at a tacky British resort.
Dawe’s style is disarmingly casual; he doesn’t even seem to project, though there were about 150 people at a recent show.
He simply chats – about funny British expressions like “bum a fag,” practical jokes and the Heimlich maneuver.
It’s so genial and charming it hardly matters that Dawe seems incapable
of sticking to the topic. One minute he’s describing a shandy –
half beer half 7-Up (“considered a children’s drink”) the
next he’s talking about the time he was afraid of jumping off a diving
tower. But the point is, there is a point – to all of it. And it’s
a thrill hearing it all come together.
Cam Fuller
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
August 6, 2003
