Gordon Southern: That Boy Needs Therapy

The man who perpetuated Summer by travelling between hemispheres for a decade is back with a new finale to an old show, documenting his own and very personal journey trying to restore his mental health through a marriage breakdown and a couple of therapists who need therapy.

It’s great stand-up storytelling from Gordon Southern – his first standalone joke is told and acknowledged ten minutes in, but there’s plenty of laughter from the start from Southern’s self-deprecation, yet with supreme self-confidence. That paradox sustains us (and him) through the show; he communicates with us indirectly, conversing on the phone about how this audience is responding (or not), and that makes us laugh again.

There’s plenty of fun to be had playing with the archetypes of men, therapists, alcohol, and the Bristolian accent (nervous laughter here, as a Bristol expat myself), but there’s a constant, darker edge to this, talking about his real struggles, about our own struggles.

It’s clever writing too, layering his narrative with foreshadowing and recall to other details of his story – it’s smart comedy, not relying on coarse language or political incorrectness to provoke a reaction.

References to long-haul flights, the colour of London’s ‘blue’ skies (grey), and David Attenborough’s ‘Blue Planet’ may be distant memories for many of us, but there’s lots in here with which we all identify – and at which we chuckle, along with Southern.

He has another show in this year’s Fringe, and whilst this might be material from an older show (Adelaide Fringe 2020), there is a new ending, and it only furthers the message that men need to talk about their feelings. The collection afterwards for Beyond Blue is welcome – we need more of this conversation in our stand-up: bravo Gordo.

Mark Wickett 

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