Review: Daniel Sloss – Bitter, SEC Armadillo

His bold new show, Bitter, is ferociously funny but not always comfortable. Performing to an almost-full SEC Armadillo as part of the Glasgow Comedy Festival, Sloss at times comes across as arrogant and offensive, for the most part offsetting these traits with charm, self-awareness and intelligent precision.

Bitter is rich with such dualities. In part fuelled by the fallout from his appearance on Channel 4’s 2023 Dispatches documentary, Russell Brand: In Plain Sight, he reveals what it was like being praised for “coming forward” (he was the only comedian who agreed to appear). The truth is he felt like he was doing the bare minimum, and it was everyone else who stepped back.  

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Sloss had spoken publicly about Brand before the documentary. In his 2018 show, X, he dealt with the circumstances surrounding a sexual assault perpetrated by a friend. X was about holding himself accountable, and trying to galvanise other men to call out sexually inappropriate or aggressive behaviour in their social circles.

When a clip from X went viral recently, Sloss felt uneasy – as if he’d somehow harnessed the power of someone else’s sexual assault for his own fame – illustrating that disquiet and steering the laughter back on track with an expertly written simile.

The 37-year-old comic doesn’t shy away from his own failings: he admits he isn’t proud of how he treated women in the past – “filling my bed with strangers”, rather than anything on a par with the aforementioned alleged offenders. Nor does he let others off the hook, calling out his manager for working him too hard in the past when he clearly needed a break, and criticising aspects of the British comedy industry.

At the start of the show, Sloss explains that he hasn’t toured for a while because he wanted to be present for his two young children, and to compensate for some of the many sacrifices his wife has made to be a mother. This lays the groundwork for some great material about unorthodox ways of making his daughter laugh, truths he can’t sugar-coat regarding how he met his cherished spouse, and some uniquely brilliant, rather dark, takes on conception.

He clearly adores his family, is in awe of his wife and acknowledges that it must suck to be married to a stand-up, but goes on to share some physically personal things – about his daughter’s genitals, for example – that you might not want your dad or husband saying on stage. Some of the jokes he makes at the expense of his hardcore fans could be seen as unkind and, similarly, some will be offended by words he uses in Glasgow on this night. Regardless of who he’s quoting when he uses them or whether he’s using them about himself, you could argue that he’s too accomplished a comic not to find clever alternatives. Still, to be docked only one star for this is a testament to the excellence of the rest of this show.

Daniel Sloss is touring Bitter until November 28. See danielsloss.com/tour/