Review – Chivalrofl: A Nerd’s Comedy Quest
Being a nerd is hard. There are the social obstacles, the Vitamin D deficiency, and the laughable sporting skills that, in a very stereotypical sense, make life tough for a teenage nerd. Many of us sympathise with the plight of the nerd, which is proven by the staggering box office success of almost every superhero movie to date. Except maybe Daredevil, but I’m getting off topic. We love our nerds, we’re big on geek chic and Ryan Etherington is one of those unlikely heroes you can’t help but like.
Ryan made it through high school, mastered that wily beast that is Pokémon, annihilated the Nazis (in a video game, of course) and even leant his talents to photo printing. What I liked about Ryan’s show was its ability to tell a pretty ordinary story in a familiar and funny way. If you’re one of those people who doesn’t quite know what you want to do with your life, or maybe worry that you’re treading water a bit, Ryan feels like a kindred spirit. That being said, he did hope for bigger and better things in his life when he applied for Mensa. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for comedy goers, he didn’t get in. He’s a hopeful guy with a penchant for seeing something funny in vast array of situations. I especially appreciated his analysis of the pitfalls associated with standard adolescent taunting, his parents’ decision to ground him for not getting out enough and the sibling rivalry between him and his older brother. Ryan examines these topics and many others with glee and bemusement.
Ryan had a lot of good material and received a lot of laughs. Promotion of the show did suggest that only true blue nerds would truly enjoy this, as though you must complete at least fifty hours of Dungeons and Dragons to appreciate it. Don’t let that fool you, though. Ryan hits on a lot of universal themes and his inability to say the right thing at the right time in his everyday life certainly makes for some hilarious anecdotes. Chivalrofl: A Nerd’s Comedy Quest is the tale of one man who both embodies and refutes the nerd stereotype in surprising and amusing ways.
