Last year, cult favourite Neal Portenza hung up his smock and beret for the final time. It seemed, as well, to be the end of the road for the character’s creator, who vowed he was giving up comedy in a Gadsby-esque final triumph on stage. Oh, how history so brilliantly repeats itself.
Portenza may be out of the picture, but Joshua Ladgrove is back and better than ever. The man behind the madness has lost his pseudonym, but every speck of bizarre brilliance remains as the comic steps out under his own name. Though he takes on the persona of a renowned bilge pump salesman, Ladgrove’s decision to drop the moniker is a huge step forward for the performer. No longer is he boxed in to the limits of a beloved alter ego; instead, he can let his audience know that Ladgrove is just as unhinged as Portenza. There is no Hyde, only Jekyll. Or perhaps, more worryingly, it’s the other way around.
Anyone privy to a previous Ladgrove experience knows that expectations need to be checked at the door. There’s no telling what the comedian will do next as seemingly important plot points are abandoned and minute details have massive pay-offs, Ladgrove flips the script on absurdist comedy. He combines the wide-eyed hysterics of Shaun Micallef with the anarchic disregard of Eric Andre, completely destroying the conventions known by even the most rampant alt comedy fans.
Neal Portenza Is Joshua Ladgrove is not a welcome back, it’s just a welcome. This is Ladgrove cementing himself in the scene as more than a one trick pony. He is a force to be reckoned with, and a damn hilarious one at that.
