Gareth Reynolds is a comedian not unlike Adam Devine, Dane Cook, and Jeff Foxworthy rolled into one. Fun, accessible, and choc-a-bloc of accents and voices that engage the audience, Reynolds is great and wrangling attention. Just like his long-tenure on The Dollop would suggest, Reynolds is someone who can make learning delightful for all. Through stories and fun anecdotes, England, Weed & The Rest is a fun time spent with a very educated person.
Gareth Reynolds Is Smart And Silly In His Explanation of England
Early on in his set, Reynolds discusses how we went from English accents to the broad American one. After a lot of wheels spun through the use of a fun British voice and faux-character POV, Reynolds lands on this joke:
“I just made time in my schedule.”
“You mean schedule.”
It’s almost subtle, but the joke hinges on the difference between the Americanized hard “k” sound in our pronunciation of schedule, and the rounder, softer “s” sound in the British pronunciation. The joke serves as a means to pivot into more linguistic, regional accent-based material. If you’re familiar with Fred Armisen’s bit on accents from his special Standup For Drummers, you’ll find a lot to like and be familiar with in Reynolds’s bit, as he similarly explores the way American accents shift in different regions like the Midwest, where they “hit that O a lot.”
Reynolds Brings Shakespeare To Life
One of the fascinating facts Reynolds discusses is the likeliness that our understanding of the accent used in Shakespearean times is likely incorrect. While we may think there was a rich European accent that had a distinction between being posh and uneducated, the truth is that the accent was much more Bostonian, prompting Reynolds to jest:
“Cawm awn, we’re gonna go waahtch some Shakespeah in the pahk!”
Here, the crowd laughs at how strange and disappointing this is, but that’s part of what makes Reyonolds’s comedy his own. It upends expectations.
Reynolds can tell a good silly story.
Throughout the hour, Reynolds tells fun stories from his life, such as a tale about his friend’s holiday celebration that occurred twice a year. If you’re unfamiliar with what holiday occurs twice a year, the answer is a non-holiday called “daylight savings.” After sharing this to rapturous laughter with the audience, Reynolds clarifies how ridiculous this is, saying “His family went big for daylight savings…they spent food out, they had drinks, people over, revelry. It was an event!”
Elsewhere, Reynolds regails the crowd with discussions of being high, but that it has resulted in an increase in canceled plans.“It’s like I’ll have plans, I’ll be excited that I have plans, then it’ll be the night of the plans, and I’ll get high, and I’ll be like, ‘what was I thinking? I gotta cancel these plans. I’m an idiot. I can’t go anywhere.”
When he is gifted a weed edible from his cousin, he’s unsure if it’ll be too strong, saying his policy is “Chew, chew, wait. Like a delayed Amtrak. That’s the way I look at it.” Despite this, he takes it all at once, and proceeds to need to take his underpants off but keep his pants on. Reynolds goes to the bathroom, and what follows is cartoonish buffoonery on his part. While he laughs through it, the audience howls, because they’re learning, and in the process, seeing Reynolds more clearly.
If you’re looking for something a bit different from the usual glut of white guy stand-up, Gareth Reynolds’s England, Weed & The Rest might be worth a watch.
Gareth Reynolds's latest special England, Weed & The Rest, is available now to watch for free on YouTube! If you'd like to support Gareth further, you can also pay to watch the special on 800 Pound Gorilla & name your own price.
Stream & download the audio album from the special on 800 Pound Gorilla!
