Little Lark of London

“Come and drink and sing and laugh and dance and make love and sniff the rich bouquet of this perfectly manicured Utopia”

For one night only, Jazz Emu and his band, The Cosmique Perfectión, took over Clapham Grand, transforming it into a paradise of funky jazz music, whimsical lighting and a lot of disco balls. Jazz Emu is a musical comedian known for songs like “Still Waiting” about waiting for the DVD logo to hit the corner of a television screen and “My Brothe,” a song composed in the style of a scam email about sending funds overseas. Jazz Emu’s songs are both funny and catchy, with smart and hilarious lyrics like, “Fuck you Tiny Snake / We will never forgive what you did to our original kin” (for context, I would highly recommend listening to “Tiny Snake” in its entirety. Most songs also have music videos accompanying on the screens behind the band, allowing the audience to sing along to the written lyrics and to see Jazz Emu’s iconic music video style.

The show is a mix of performances by Jazz Emu and The Cosmique Perfectión and short sets by four different comedians – Toussaint Douglass, Emma Sidi, Flo & Joan and Joe Lycett. The Cosmique Perfectión, made up of Sofia Grant (vocals and keyboard), Nicky Green (keyboard), Joel Phillips (drums) and Angie Prasanti (bass), is a fantastic band, working together to accompany not only Jazz Emu but the other comedians who take the stage, at times seemingly improvising as needed based on requests. 

Having been to Jazz Emu: Pleasure Garden in the past knowing none of Jazz Emu’s work, I would highly recommend going with a knowledge of at least some of his songs, as it truly is an incredible feeling to be singing along with the crowd to lyrics like “Forget the coziness and good willing / We need more state-sanction ritual killing” (from my personal favourite, “True Meaning of the Season”) and “Don’t fret on taxes, no stress with rent bills / FunkBot’s got saxes in place of his genitals” (from the iconic “Funkbot 10,000”). 

What kept this review from being five stars is the performances by the comedians within the Pleasure Garden. The performances ranged from slightly amusing to laugh out loud funny, which definitely took away from the solid vibes of fun and bizarreness that makes the Pleasure Garden such a great performance. Toussaint Douglass kept the closest to the energy provided by Jazz Emu, performing some hilarious songs with a storyline of having been in an accident and getting amnesia. The next comedian, Emma Sidi, told a bizarre story in Spanish and French about being attacked by an elf while watching Iron Man 3 porn, which was enhanced by a fantastic audience member portraying Dobby the Elf on stage with Sidi. 

Flo & Joan decided to become wedding singers with two songs that weren’t exactly in tune or on beat but were still quite fun to dance along to (there was an excellent mouth trumpet performance!). Joe Lycett performed jokes that he had already done, which was a bit disappointing as someone who follows his comedy and recognised his bit about Harry Styles from several months ago. I ended up paying more attention to The Cosmique Perfectión’s excellent performance of a slow jazz version of Styles’s “As It Was” in the background while Lycett told his story. 

Ultimately, Jazz Emu: Pleasure Garden Deluxe is a great show and certainly benefits from being extended, but I would definitely prefer just an entire concert of Jazz Emu’s songs without the comedian sets. The surprise appearance of Mark Silcox as “The Avenger” was one of the highlights of the show and continued the fun storyline that had been underlying the show. The Cosmic Balance may have been restored, but it could be truly taken to the next level by letting Jazz Emu and The Cosmique Perfectión take on the world themselves. 

Jazz Emu: Pleasure Garden Deluxe ran at Clapham Grand on 15 November. 

Photo Credit: Jessica Greaves