Watching Reggie Watts perform is kind of like listening to an Aphex Twin album – the overarching thoughts revolving around some variation of ‘how did this even get made?’ Watts’ improvised performance is nothing short of completely bewildering and utterly absurd – the idea that somebody could integrate and improvise so fluidly in front of a packed room while maintaining such energy is almost incomprehensible. His otherworldly tangents are cripplingly funny, liable to take you completely off-guard. It’s impossible and ill-advised to try and resist – you just need to go with it and let Watts work his absurd magic on you.
His set is largely free from the constraints of traditional satire or irony – Watts has a silly style that, coupled with his extremely affable stage presence, makes you think that you’re bearing witness to something truly unique. His musical pieces are testament to this, lengthy beasts that build from looping vocal samples into explosive numbers that you can see the majority of the audience involuntarily grooving to. Watts is equal parts musical and comedic talent. Given his fantastic energy, it feels as though you’d enjoy watching him do almost anything.
If you can have a set with a song that explains solipsism and then follow that with a spoken word piece about ball-flicking and Vegemite without seeming contrived, then you’ve mastered something (although I’m not sure how to define whatever that is without overusing the word ‘absurd’).
It might be tempting to overthink the material and try to find some larger meaning, but you’d probably just ruin it. Reggie Watts lies somewhere outside of the realm of definition. The best advice is to just switch off any expectations and let him do some juggling with your brain.
BY ALI SCHNABEL
