Fringe review: John Safran – Squatting at Kanye’s and Other Adventures
Documentary maker and writer John Safran’s hilarious show strikes the right balance between reading from his recent book and screening the satirical footage he’s known for. ★★★★½
When Safran appears in the famed Spiegeltent, he sports a white hat and white linen suit. This smart move signals from the start that just like Mark Twain and Tom Wolfe, the multi-talented Safran is wearing his writer’s uniform. After all, his new Fringe show is based on his latest book, Squat – A week squatting at Kanye’s mansion.
So naturally, Safran reads from it. Watching someone read can be worse than watching paint dry, but Safran’s chosen extracts — about confronting the father of Kanye West’s Melbourne-born wife Bianca Censori and being kicked out of a Scientology meeting — are lively, witty and entertaining. Safran’s distinctive voice and animated delivery also make his reading engaging. Having said that, Safran was right to offset the readings with video footage on a screen behind him, showing the bold, unpredictable humour that first brought Safran to TV viewers’ attention.
Safran does warn the audience that the first clip he plays may disturb some viewers. Very true: I look away. A typically banal segment from an imaginary cooking show has Safran preparing a beef dish. This then cuts to disturbing footage of cows being killed at an abattoir before the video cuts back to the cooking segment. As with much of Safran’s film and TV work, it’s uncomfortable viewing, but it’s even harder not to laugh at the jokes and be moved by the satire.
The second clip Safran plays is a super-funny pilot he made for MTV, in which he tries to recruit emos for the US Army. This reveals some of the qualities that make Safran so compelling: his amusing turn of phrase and his deadpan and naïve-seeming delivery of ridiculous questions and statements to people who miss the irony. For example, the Army’s marketing head thought Safran’s emo recruitment drive was something the Army could use. And the test group of American emos that Safran plays the promo to were outraged about how emos were portrayed, but neither they nor the Army guy got that Safran was joking. The Fringe audience at Safran’s show, however, had no such irony deficiency, as evidenced by the loud laughter throughout the show.
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Safran’s wit and originality is undeniable, and his material in Squatting at Kanye’s is brilliant. With this in mind, any criticisms are relatively minor. Firstly, he delivered the show in an armchair, and where he sat obscured some of the screen behind him. This is never a good idea when doing a presentation, but even more so when there’s a broad-brimmed hat in the mix. The screen either needed to be raised higher or — dare I say it — Safran could have squatted while the footage played.
Also, Safran could have found ways to interact with the audience more — making contact with all the audience, ad-libbing quips to audience reaction, or even asking the odd question would have helped. Great show, regardless.
Squatting at Kanye’s and Other Adventures ran from March 22 – 23 at The Spiegeltent at the Garden of Unearthly Delights
Read more 2025 Adelaide Fringe coverage here on InReview