Review by Graham Finney
Hold the front page! Jonathan Pie has been sacked! After a gaff of monumental proportions on live TV, the fallen news presenter is back out on the road as he fights to salvage his career kicking off tonight at a packed York Barbican.
Opening for Pie on this run of dates is Scottish comedian JoJo Sutherland. As most of the crowd are unaware of a support act, the comic admits afterwards that gigs like this are tough because nobody knows or really cares who you are. Having said that, if the reaction to her short set tonight is an indication of how the rest of the tour will go, this is going to be a brilliant run for the Scot. Not showing any opening night nerves, Sutherland hits the stage all guns blazing spending her time onstage discussing a range of topics ranging from her own children to sex education for primary school children to unfortunate ringtones at funerals. Brash and crude, Sutherland is the perfect person for a Friday night session down the pub and the perfect appetizer for the night ahead.
If you’ve been on YouTube or Facebook over the past year or so, you should be familiar with the work of Jonathon Pie, a news presenter who isn’t afraid to express his hard-hitting political opinions. The Fake News tour sees Pie hitting the road with the aim of salvaging his career although, given his monumental crash and subsequent public meltdown, the TV presenter admits he is feeling “as zen as sh*t”.
With the world in a state of social and political meltdown, The Fake News tour sees Pie delivering a set that is part lecture, part opinionated ranting and, as he departs after eighty minutes on stage, the man has certainly left this crowd with plenty to talk about. Given his career to date, there is plenty that Pie wants to discuss, by the end of the night, while the obvious topics have been extensively covered, you don’t leave feeling battered by Brexit rants. Of course a good chunk of the set leans heavily on Pie’s opinions about Brexit, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson but not to the point where it becomes just obsessive ranting. The beauty of Pie is his opinions on these subjects are clearly well thought out beforehand as he takes you on a journey through time from when Brexit first reared its head as dinosaurs roamed the planet.
Like I said though, it’s not all raging lectures about Brexit, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, there is plenty more topics out there for Pie to sink his teeth into. His son’s sexuality, Twitter, knife crime, Instagram influencers, fat-shaming and British culture, they’re all fair game for the presenter and, by the time he departs at the end of this brilliant night having exploded in expletive-laden, foaming at the mouth fashion at the reaction to his appalling public cock-up, the man we see before us is far from being “zen as sh**”.
In a world obsessed by X-Factor celebrities, fake news, and social media influencers, the world needs Pie’s unapologetic opinions more than ever. Don’t let this tour be the last we see of the breath of fresh air that is Jonathan Pie.
