Review: JOHN TOTHILL: THE LAST LIVING LIBERTINE, Soho Theatre

“What is a communal laugh if not an almighty ‘Amen?’”

What’s your clarinet? That is a question that Tothill asks the audience during John Tothill: The Last Living Libertine. For some, their clarinet is their body as they love going to the gym and working out. For others, their clarinet is dancing. For Tothill, his clarinet is, well, his clarinet. Yes, this is a class, and some of you will need to be taking notes. He is, as he states quite a few times, “seriously good at the clarinet.”

The Last Living Libertine is, as described by Tothill, a show that is “straddling cabaret and TED Talk,” exploring the changing nature in pleasure-seeking and reasoning that it is related to the Church of England and religion as a whole (as he says when placing blame, “Whose fault is it? The Church of England”). But, according to the comedian, there is only one reason he is performing - to become famous enough to walk off of the television programme, Lorraine. 

Tothill himself is, as described by one of his nine-year-old students, a “dogshit teacher” of Year 4 who has “medieval court jester” vibes (though he wishes he had been born a medieval boy-king), constantly switching between a teacher and a joker with seconds. He is fascinated by not only religion but the Internet, as accurately summarised by his imaginary book’s title, The Internet: A Protestant Conspiracy. To be quite honest, I would pay for Tothill to give an actual course on the subject, as he does bring up interesting points that could be discussed at length in an academic study (but that’s simply my history background coming in!). 

The show takes the form of a history lesson, though, quite eerily similar to the history lessons I had at school, we never really learn much as Tothill goes on a range of tangents, frequently stating “We’ll be spending a few minutes with this” before going into how gyms have “crypto-fascist vibes” or about his love for Wikipedia. Indeed, he accurately states that the show is putting the experience of Wikipedia on stage, as one second you’ll be looking at the laws of the Catholic Church and the next you’ll be deep in a conspiracy about how step-sibling porn is being pushed onto us by the Archbishop of Canterbury (I would’ve loved to hear more about his one). 

Tothill’s crowd work is interesting, to say the least. At the show I attended, he seemed particularly focused on (if not distracted by) one of the ushers and an audience member in the front row, two people he would constantly refer back to. At times, it felt like the show was just for them, which got a little bit uncomfortable - I can only imagine what it was like for those who had been selected!

There is a hilarious bit in which Tothill is able to tie the act of meal prepping to Olive Cromwell, declaring that, by refusing to prepare our meals ahead of time, we are rebelling against Cromwell’s spirit and everything he stood for, an impressive statement. It is actually a fascinating thought that Tothill expands upon with other examples, satisfying curious minds in the audience who may actually be interested in not only the comedy but the TED talk aspect of the show. 

Ultimately, John Tothill: The Last Living Libertine is a fascinating, rambling take on not only Catholicism but a range of topics that will have you in stitches. Tothill somehow manages to prove his hypothesis that Catholicism is the same as Acid Techno with a brilliant ending that has the audience members on their feet.

John Tothill: The Last Living Libertine runs on 8 and 9 March at Soho Theatre.

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