It is a new but rapidly evolving niche: talking your way through comic video clips of your own creation, or laughing about the comments made about the visual snippets that you've uploaded on to YouTube. It certainly makes a change from the traditional joke-laugh-joke routine of your average stand-up. But then Adam Buxton doesn't classify himself as "an ordinary stand-up"; instead, he is a nebulous, comedic entity, using multimedia to enhance his shtick. It's not cheating so much as augmenting – as his forthcoming appearance at London's 100 Club, with support from up-and-comers Tom Basden, Paul Foot and Nick Mohammed, will demonstrate.
Buxton is, whether he loves it or hates it, still best known as one half of the duo Adam and Joe, with his long-term comedy partner Joe Cornish. The pair met at Westminster School in the 1980s and now pull in BBC6 Music's highest ratings, around 70,000 listeners a week, for their Saturday morning show. As Cornish branches out into the world of Hollywood scriptwriting, Buxton fronts the BFI's music video showcase, BUG, as well as appearing on the festival circuit.
Previous gigs have featured a well-known video pastiche of NWA's "Fuck tha Police" which Buxton calls "Help the Police"; a sketch in which a Dad, played by the comic, censors the 1988 rap classic for his son by turning the lyrics down on his car radio during the rude bits. "This video stuff is where my interest lies," he explains. "I spend most of my time making videos. I don't get out much. I remember thinking Dave Gorman is in similar territory. But I don't want to be part of too crowded a scene."
Adam Buxton is headlining The 100 Club, presented by Feature Spot Productions, on Thursday 29 October (www.wegottickets.com)
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