Review: MAT EWINS: MR TIKTOK*, Soho Theatre

“I’m trying to be big on TikTok”

Walking into Mat Ewins: Mr. TikTok*, you are greeted by the ushers who inform you that you will be using your phone during the show, and that you should turn you volume up to 100%. Yes, really. Once seated, audience members follow the instructions on a screen on the stage, joining a specific WiFi network for the show and going on a website to create their own “Ewins Avatar.” 

The loose narrative of the show is an interesting one - Ewins is interested in becoming TikTok famous and is ready to show off his joke-telling abilities to the audience through a range of video-based jokes and pranks. The first thing you have to accept in this show is that you’re not going to understand all of the jokes, but that is totally fine as the show flies by, with nothing lasting for more than a few seconds before Ewins moves onto the next joke.

Only one section lasts longer than others; a recurring joke in which Ewins does a dramatic reading of his father’s memoirs of being a doctor, a hilarious parody of Adam Kay’s comedy. Other than that, most of the show takes place during a “livestream” that Ewins has put on for the world to see his talent, but it’s clear the viewers aren’t interested based on the comments that begin to appear on the screen.

A huge amount of credit must be given to Kate Parker, who is not only Ewins’ partner in crime as the technical genius behind the show, but as his girlfriend as well. Throughout the show, Parker is sitting behind a computer in the tech booth, typing a range of comments and commands that react to audience member interactions Ewins is having. If I hadn’t been sitting close to Palmer and seeing her frantically typing, I would have spent the entire night guessing just how Ewins was doing it!

Quite a few of the jokes throughout the show have had an incredible amount of time put into them, particularly those involving editing and animation. I particularly loved one that involved King Charles on a unicycle (I think I was genuinely in tears at that one). Even jokes that might not have been acceptable in other shows, like a bus in Cars with the destination of Epstein’s island, a Google Doodle of Harold Sumption and a bean-themed Holocaust joke (Ewins has a strange obsession with Beans), manage to be hilarious, and some may not even notice them as they are also in Ewins’s signature blink-and-you-miss-it style of comedy.

Mr. TikTok* would have been a perfect show if it was not for its ending, which unfortunately leaves the audience hanging on a strange note, unsure if the show has truly ended or not. There is a moment that appears to be heartfelt, but based on some weird reactions from the audience, Ewins was thrown off and did not know what to make of the situation. After a few awkward jokes, the show ended, but many of the audience members sat in silence when Ewins left the stage, unsure of whether it was another prank or not.

Ultimately, Mat Ewins: Mr. TikTok* is a fun hour of comedy that packs as many jokes as it possibly can into its running time, using a brilliant combination of technology, pranks, and a brilliant tech partner. Not including the strange ending, it may have been one of my favourite comedy shows of the year. 

Mat Ewins: Mr. TikTok* runs until 9 December at Soho Theatre.

Photo Credit: Matt Crockett

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