Set Free
Netflix · 2019 · 50 min
Introspective, neuroses-fueled stand-up from the former British TV host.
Simon Amstell spends part of his 2019 performance lying in the fetal position on stage, clutching his microphone like a security blanket. It is a fitting visual for a show that treats neurosis, chronic anxiety, and existential dread not as obstacles to overcome, but as the raw material for comedy. Rather than hiding behind the smirking sarcasm of his early television days, Amstell is remarkably candid. He explains how he tried to cure his chronic intimacy issues through everything from a sex party in Paris to an ayahuasca ceremony in Peru.
Filmed at EartH Hackney in London, the special arrived at a transitional point in Amstell’s career. He had spent the preceding years moving away from television hosting to focus on writing and directing, including the mockumentary Carnage and the feature film Benjamin. Directed by Julia Knowles, the set combines material from two of his live tours. It features bits about his childhood as a closeted kid in Essex, his fraught relationship with his emotionally distant father, and his realization that trying to make everyone love him is a waste of time.
The set list
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The delusion that anyone is special and that humans do not die quickly enough
Argues that humanity's core issue is our pursuit of status and validation, while humorously noting that we just keep living so we have to invent things to do.
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Attending a sex party with his boyfriend
Explores struggles with open communication and intimacy in a long-term relationship, finding comedy in his awkward presence at an orgy.
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Ayahuasca ceremony in the Amazon rainforest
Details stripping off all his clothes and dancing like a lunatic in front of amused shamans, which helped dissolve his lifelong shame and absurd insecurities.
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Seeking approval from his emotionally distant father
Reflects on his father failing to attend previous stand-up tours because they were not 'his sort of thing,' and working through the resentment in therapy.
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Losing his virginity as a teenager in Paris
Hilariously recounts his desperation to impress and lose his virginity while struggling with poor schoolboy French and being deeply in the closet.
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Homophobia and 'The Lion King'
Jokes about the absurdity of homophobia persisting in a world where Elton John composed 'The Lion King'.
How it plays
- Tone
- Introspective, honest, vulnerable, existential, and self-deprecating yet optimistic.
- On stage
- Quiet, unassuming, polite, and vulnerable with an understated delivery, dry wit, and warped logic.
- Pace
- Energy-saving, understated cadence with precise language and bewildered introspection.
- About
- mental health and depression, intimacy and relationships, sexuality and coming out, ego and the need for validation, father-son relationships, ayahuasca and psychedelics
What the critics said
Praised as a fine-tuned, deeply vulnerable, and clever hour that turns existential angst and intimate soul-searching into group therapy without feeling self-indulgent.
In the room: Intimate and warm, coaxing the room into a space of collective honesty where weirdness is treated as normal.
Backstory
Personal exploration of mental health, coming out, intimacy issues, years of therapy, and letting go of shame following an ayahuasca ceremony in the Amazon rainforest.
Details
- Released
- Taped
- EartH, Hackney, London
- Runtime
- 50 min
- Where
- Netflix
- Director
- Julia Knowles
- Topics
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