Sitting and Standing

An image from Dale Amler's comedy show, You Sit I'll Stand, scoured off Google.

I had to go to Dale Amler's show. I wasn't really given much choice in the matter. From the moment that my friend Kari heard that I was going to be in Grahamstown over the festival (nevermind the fact that I live here), I was doomed. Not only did I have to go to the show, I had to try and convince all of my friends to go, and that is never an easy feat, particularly when you know little about the show itself.

The programme didn't provide much information and neither did Dale's website. The subject matter for the show was always a little vague, but I pushed it anyway, trying to convince my friends that it would be a show worth seeing. Putting myself on the line a little bit, because if it was bad, you know they were all going to be blaming me for wasting their money and time. Thankfully, this wasn't really something that I had to worry about.

From Jewish jokes to humorous travel wisdom - Dale takes his experiences of the world and lays them bare. He is incredibly open about his past, his failures and his life experiences, and has a great way of seeing the comedy in every situation.

Considering that You Sit, I'll Stand is Dale's first one-man comedy show and that the Grahamstown festival is the first time that he is performing it, you would expect there to be kinks. You would expect there to be timing errors and jokes that not everyone appreciates. But the fact is that there is something in there for anyone. There are jokes that you just can't help laughing at, and I can guarantee that you will walk away from the show smiling, which is more than I can say for Live and Kicking. While Dale does take awhile to warm to his audience, as soon as he has gauged them he interacts well with them, throwing out comments and one-liners at the drop of a hat when the occasion calls for it.

The show isn't perfect. It could do with some polishing, but that doesn't mean that it should be overlooked. Give it a try - you won't regret it.