The first thing Daniel Goncalves tells us is that his set is silent – he later starts to talk. It’s hard to tell if that is because the silent set comment was a joke or because he begins to eschew his planned set in favour of something different.
If it is the latter, it’s understandable why – Goncalves’s material fails to land as he struggles to win over the audience, hitting his most challenging moment when his young volunteer from the audience seems less than interested in participating once on stage. Though he clearly doesn’t want to be there Goncalves struggles on, but it all feels forced. You can imagine Goncalves sitting down post-show and re-examining the W.C. Fields’ statement about working with children and animals. He also struggles with technical difficulties from a dodgy microphone (should that matter in a silent performance?)
A final skit involving Goncalves dressing two new male (adult) volunteers as women in tutus and large wigs and making them walk as if on a catwalk adds more energy to the set, and more of a reaction from the audience, but with the entire joke seemingly being that we are watching two men dressed as women it feels completely misjudged.
During this section I overhear someone behind me question whether Goncalves is making a statement about toxic masculinity. He could be, but it doesn’t look like it. Overall, one for Goncalves to forget.
