Review: CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD: SCARY TIMES, Soho Theatre

“We’re living through the end of the world . . . But you can find ways to enjoy it”

Christopher Macarthur-Boyd: Scary Times begins with Macarthur-Boyd telling us about a terrible gig he had recently, a charity gig in Glasgow for Freedom from Torture. For some, this might be a shocking way to begin a comedy show. But, as Macarthur-Boyd himself admits, we’re in London - it takes a lot to shock a person here.

Quite a bit of the show focuses on Scotland, where Macarthur-Boyd is from, including Americans not understanding Scottish accents (an American thought he was speaking broken English), meeting his girlfriend at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (exploring the differences between Edinburgh and Glasgow in a hilarious way) and the unfortunate legacy of the Harry Potter franchise in Edinburgh (and how difficult it would be to make the same kind of tourism money with the city’s other famous movie, Trainspotting). 

One of the unexpected highlights of Scary Times is how comfortable Macarthur-Boyd is with being open with the audience. When asking audience members where they’re from, he discovers two people are from Hamilton and begins discussing a nice cake shop he went to. At one point he admits that he forgot to do the joke that sets up the next one and asks if it’s okay if he does that joke for us, leading to a hilarious bit ending with him showing us how the original joke would have gone with the setup. Even at the end of the show, he reveals that he has an idea for a callback to another story but still hasn’t figured it out, inviting audience members to give their suggestions. 

My favourite joke in the show was one about zoos, though I may be a bit biased as a former zoo employee. Macarthur-Boyd tells us about the time he took his partner to the Edinburgh Zoo’s “After Dark” event, and I already knew where this joke was going to go, as he complains about only being able to smell and not see any of the animals at night (a common occurrence at these “after hours” events). He also struggles with having empathy for the animals trapped in cages, a longstanding debate surrounding zoos. However, Macarthur-Boyd, a self-proclaimed aquarium fan, has come up with a solution to ensure no hard feelings - a guilt-free zoo full of animals who have done terrible things, like a ring-tailed lemur behind bars for paedophilia. 

While the show is mostly comedic, there are some moments that touch on darker topics, including one story where Macarthur-Boyd expresses his love for walking alone at 3 in the morning to his girlfriend, who explains that women do not have that luxury and forcing him to reflect on the concept. There is also another section on greed and how it destroys people, with one story being about a woman with cybernetic eyes and how she suffered because of the greed of corporations. The section on capitalism is a bit lighter, even though Macarthur-Boyd mourns the loss of shops like Topman and Woolworth’s, comparing his loss to Albert losing Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises. 

Ultimately, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd: Scary Times is a great hour of standup comedy, with Macarthur-Boyd showing off his storytelling skills while leaving the audience in stitches. I look forward to seeing more from him in the future!

Christopher Macarthur-Boyd: Scary Times ran from 23 to 25 May at Soho Theatre.

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