Any act which discusses a poltergeist dwarf and mistakes a wasp for prostitute is already on the road to success. The fact it’s coming from the mouth of the perfect parody of a psychic medium makes it doubly hilarious.

Ian D Montfort is the latest guise of Tom Binns – he of Ivan Brackenbury fame – and he has carried it off to the highest degree. Let’s start with his appearance… the perfectly straightened dyed blond hair, the white linen shirt, jeans with tacky motiffs and open-toed sandals, topped off with a necklace of beads bought in Ibiza. That’s spot-on for a start.

Next up is his facial expressions and body language. His lilting Geordie accent has just the right amount of softness to it, his expression benign… Binns must have sat through a lot of material to get this just right. There’s no need to worry if you don’t like audience participation – you are invited to take part, rather than picked on, and even when Binns does talk to the audience, it’s not the cringesome sort you see in some shows.

But of course, this interaction is crucial to the performance, and it is handled brilliantly, with very funny results. Without giving anything away, he clearly has much of the patter worked out – but weirdly, he does accurately guess personal information, much to the confusion and delight of us all. That little bit of magic is a nice touch, and made the show for me.

Binns may not be able to reach the other side, but he will find your funny bone.

Review by: Lucy Wood

Source

Buy Tickets to see Tom Binns as Ian D. Montfort Here

Dead Funny

 The joke is well and truly on us in the return of Sunderland’s favourite psychic, brought hysterically to life by character comedian Tom Binns. Dressed casually in a white shirt, floral embroidered jeans and comfy sandals, which presumably help to channel dead celebrities who will be his spirit guides tonight, Montfort calmly moves back and forth around the room delivering messages from the other side.

At first, it’s all a bit of a hoot as Montfort fishes shamelessly for answers, ending almost every utterance with a soothing, ‘Does this make sense to you?’ to which the response is invariably, ‘No’.

But once his predictions start to hit their mark, correctly guessing people’s names, where they went on holiday and even the last three digits of their mobile phone number, the uproarious laughter is quickly supplanted by surprised gasps and spontaneous applause.

Every spooky statement is delivered tongue in cheek – Montfort’s solution to one couple’s dwarf poltergeist is priceless – building to an astonishing finale that leaves everyone in the audience shaking their heads in disbelief. Montfort has certainly got the tricks but his show is an absolute treat.

Damon Smith 16/8/11

For more info on the show go to Tom Binns’ show page

To Buy tickets go to The Pleasance Website