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Cover image credit: Thumbnail: YouTube · James Acaster

Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999

James Acaster

Vimeo · 2020 · 2 h 6 min

A meticulously structured two-hour breakdown of his worst year.

Watch on Vimeo(opens in a new tab)

James Acaster strolls onto the stage in sunglasses, a palm tree bomber jacket, and headphones, immediately signaling that the whimsical, buttoned-up persona from his previous Netflix release is gone. This is a louder, more aggressive, and deeply personal set where he drops his usual clean delivery to actively antagonize his more mainstream panel-show fans. He spends over two hours detailing a spectacular personal collapse, structuring the performance around a comparison between 1999, the best year of his life, and 2017, the absolute worst.

Filmed at EartH in Hackney, London, on December 17, 2019, the show was released via a global live stream on the exact same date a year later. It catalogs a series of humiliations, including being dumped by his girlfriend for Rowan Atkinson, getting dropped by his agent, and enduring a mental breakdown during a celebrity edition of The Great British Bake Off that ended with a call to the Samaritans helpline. He also tackles wider targets, including a viral segment mocking comfortable comedians who punch down at transgender people. The show won the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award and was widely praised for its intricate narrative structure.

The set list

7 bits

  1. Calling out edgy comedians who punch down at transgender people

    Sarcastically targets comedians like Ricky Gervais who brag about saying whatever they want and immediately open specials by attacking the trans community as if they were overdue for a challenge.

  2. Second Brexit referendum as a restaurant order

    Constructs an extended metaphor about a patron ordering a meal at a restaurant and being forced to accept a plate of shit without being allowed to change their mind.

  3. Filming The Great British Bake Off

    Recounts a sleep-deprived breakdown during the celebrity charity taping, calling the Samaritans helpline pretending to be a baker, and accidentally generating a viral American meme with his flapjack quote.

  4. Partner leaving him for Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean)

    Discloses finding out via a newspaper that his ex-girlfriend was dating Rowan Atkinson, swearing the audience to secrecy and processing the absurdity where he is the sole butt of the joke.

  5. Getting dropped by his agent

    Explains his 2017 split with his longtime agent by choosing to tell the story solely from his agent's perspective, claiming he ruins everything for a prank.

  6. Unprofessional therapist and ending treatment

    Describes a therapist who breached professional boundaries, leading Acaster to ironically utilize what he learned about addressing rejection issues to fire her via text message.

  7. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Food poisoning incident at a steakhouse closer

    Recounts involuntarily soiling himself at a restaurant with his agent, before getting interrupted by crowd applause over normalising mental health discussions and wrapping up the show with his sunglasses.

How it plays

Tone
Vulnerable, biting, absurdist, self-loathing, and emotionally raw yet meticulously engineered.
On stage
Dressed in a sunset-style jacket and aviator sunglasses, combining self-lacerating vulnerability, profanity, beta-male swagger, and an antagonistic yet needy relationship with his audience.
Pace
Meticulously paced with deliberate silences, sharp shifts in tone and tempo, and tightly chiselled phrasing designed to maximize surprise.
About
Mental health and breakdown, Rejection and relationship breakups, Comedian-audience dynamics and need for approval, Therapy, 1999 versus 2017, Brexit

What the critics said

Universally acclaimed by critics as a masterclass of comedic craft, storytelling, and theatre that transcended standard stand-up with gem-like precision and startling emotional depth.

In the room: Rapt and sold-out, occasionally heckling around mental health commentary and unintentionally throwing off Acaster's closing rhythm by cheering his normalization of mental health.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, jamesacaster.com, comedy.co.uk, vulture.com, nytimes.com, chortle.co.uk.

Backstory

Framed around contrasting the best year of his life (1999) with his annus horribilis (2017), during which he suffered a mental breakdown, suicidal ideation, the end of a relationship, was dropped by his agent of eight years, and entered therapy.

Details

Released
Taped
2019, EartH, London
Runtime
2 h 6 min
Where
Vimeo
Director
Daniel Lucchesi
Honors
Most Outstanding Show at Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2019Chortle Award
Topics
Before
Repertoire (2018)
After
Hecklers Welcome (2024)

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