INSTAGRAHAM by Graham Clark. Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace. July 2 at 6:45 pm, July 3 at 2:45 pm, July 4 at 11 pm, July 6 at 3 pm, July 7 at 8 pm, July 8 at 1:45 pm, July 9 at 4:30 pm. Buy tickets. Rating: NNN
After successfully turning the act of reading a phone book into a show last year, Vancouver comedian Graham Clark returns to the Fringe with a new show based on his Instagram account. He delivers his entire one-hour show from behind a podium with his laptop, which is hooked up to a projection screen.
At the start of the one-hour plunge into Clark’s personal photographic history, he nonchalantly offers, “I gave Instagram a try. Turns out, I’m amazing at it.” Dry, laidback and, at times, self-deprecating, Clark takes us through his social media account chronologically, with most photos consisting of hilariously mislabeled packaging or weird public signs, and photos of literal trash. Pausing at one photo of a toilet abandoned on a Toronto sidewalk, he makes a joke about our city’s unspoken rule: once something’s on the street, it’s no longer your problem.
At the halfway mark, the show lags, but that’s partly due to the sensory fatigue that comes with scrolling through any social media.
However, Clark’s transition into doing a bit of crowd work at the end based on the Instagram accounts of audience members proves that there’s a story to tell in between all the selfies and food photos, and Clark knows how to draw out that humour.
