After last year’s debut in the prestigious Comedy Zone, star of BBC Switch (BBC TWO, BBC Radio 1 & online) TOM DEACON returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with his first solo show Indecisive. Struggling with everything from his ever growing baseball cap collection to his alpha male father, the Chortle Student Comedy Award winner asks: why can’t he enjoy all the good things around him?
At 23, TOM is young, but he isn’t letting that hold him back: he’s making his way in the world and yet… He used to be darn sure what he wanted and now, well, he’s not. TOM’s just trying to be a better man. But the way he sees it his dad is his ammunition, his girlfriend is his battle, and he is his own worst enemy. From the etiquette of emergency contraception to the midnight torture of spooning this hat wearing clown can’t seem to catch a break.
He knows he’s being ridiculous, but living with his girlfriend TOM sometimes feels trapped (though the benefits of reduced rent are certainly persuasive). Each day brings a new, seemingly impossible, decision - spend romantic time shopping with his girlfriend, because that’s what she wants to do? Or spend time with his mates playing Fifa 09? Those kits are so realistic, it’s not easy. TOM wishes his Dad had equipped him better for these dilemmas - teaching him to ‘treat them mean, keep them keen’ doesn’t seem to cut it in 2009. Why isn’t his Dad the Dad he wanted him to be? Why can’t TOM man-up a little and have confidence in his love life? And when will he learn that it’s unacceptable to give your girlfriend a wedgie?
The decisive TOM would tell you that this show is clearly about him, as he learns about his relationships with his girlfriend and his Dad. But the closer he gets to understanding them, the further he gets from trying to make them more agreeable…
As part of Switch (the BBC's teen offering delivering content across multiple platforms), TOM presents The 5:19 Show online every weekday, and as well as hosting Switch’s strand of Saturday afternoon shows on BBC TWO, he also recently appeared in BBC TWO’s Winging It. TOM was invited to attend the first stage of NBC’s Last Comic Standing in Miami and is set to appear in the next series of Comedy Central’s hit stand up show Edinburgh and Beyond. Last year TOM starred in the Fringe’s longest running group comedy show, The Comedy Zone, which previously launched the careers of DAVE GORMAN, HARRY HILL, STEWART LEE, AL MURRAY and ROSS NOBLE.
ends
“A sharp-looking mod from Southampton with looks, confidence, charm and great material. Expect other comics to lynch him.”
Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times
“Slick stagecraft, bags of energy.”
Steve Bennett, Chortle
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Venue: Pleasance Cellar
Date: 5th - 31st August
Time: 20:30
Box Office: 0131 556 6550
For more information and press tickets, please contact: Jo Cross, Ben Nolan, Jenny Stewart or Dan Lloyd. Tel: 08700 70 50 50 [Edinburgh office] or 020 7598 7222 [London office]. Email: joc@avalonuk.com, benn@avalonuk.com, jenny.stewart@avalonuk.com or danl@avalonuk.com
AVALON PROMOTIONS
Avalon Promotions Limited is one of the leading promoters of live comedy in the UK. Productions include: NEWMAN & BADDIEL in the first comedy show ever to be staged at Wembley Arena; FRANK SKINNER’s record-breaking performance to an audience of 6,000 at the Battersea Power Station; Jerry Springer - The Opera at the National Theatre, at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End, on national tour and at New York’s Carnegie Hall; HARRY HILL at the Palace and Dominion Theatres in London; and Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure at the Sydney Opera House, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on national tour and at the Village Theatre, New York (nominated for Drama Desk Award 2004).
The last 12 months has seen Avalon Promotions: present multi-award winning comics JENNY ECLAIR, RICHARD HERRING, RUSSELL HOWARD and FRANK SKINNER on sell-out runs; produce AL MURRAY, THE PUB LANDLORD live at the O2 and RUSSELL HOWARD at Wembley Arena; introduce some of the fastest-rising stars in comedy such as RUSSELL KANE, KRISTEN SCHAAL & KURT BRAUNOHLER and ISY SUTTIE; produce stage shows, such as Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret and Grumpy Old Women Live, which has toured the UK three times and performed a highly successful run in Australia; and present 23 acts at the Edinburgh Festival, where it has promoted a total of five Perrier Award winners and 17 Perrier Award/if.comedy Award nominees in just 20 years.
