Simon Amstell says this show is a departure from his previous ones, which were full of angsty introspection. And true, in I Love It Here he appears less wired, but fans fear not; this is more of the same, albeit wrapped up in positivity and some knowing self-deprecation.
The show is a description of a Hollywood party he attended last year while living in Los Angeles with his partner of 14 years, and the comic seems to be in a happy place – or at least a contented one. He was relieved, he says, not being expected to “be” Simon Amstell, away from the level of fame that hosting Channel 4’s Popworld and Never Mind the Buzzcocks on the BBC had brought him in the UK. Although he confesses some concern that he's not on the telly much these days: "How are you supposed to keep a career going when new people keep being born?"
Then comes an invitation to a party hosted by Leonardo DiCaprio (the subject of 17-year-old Amstell’s sexual awakening), where one of the guests would be a pop singer Amstell has long had a crush on. What if he met the singer there – would they hook up?
So for the next hour he tells the tale but, this being a Simon Amstell show, it meanders and scoots off in several different directions before wheeling back to the point of the story. So we hear about Amstell’s appreciation for hallucinogenics and an open relationship and of his hobnobbing at the party, where he chatted to Laura Dern, failed to recognise Solange Knowles and shocked Baz Luhrmann – while keeping us guessing whether he and the singer actually meet.
Along the way he talks about his mother’s discovery of Mel Robbins’ “Let Them” self-help theory, learning to forgive even the worst people in history and being measured for a Gucci suit to wear at the party – “This is still relatable, right?”, a line that nicely sums up the comic’s pleasing mix of faux self-aggrandisement and self-mockery.
And yet there’s some occasional grit in the oyster, too: Amstell mentions his father in passing, summing up his attitude to him when he was a child as “uninterested” and describing his hope that his younger siblings will not turn out to be as emotionally needy as he is.
Essentially, though, that’s about as deep as it gets in what is an entertaining hour-long shaggy-dog story – one that has a surprising musical interlude.
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