Lou Wall - Breaking The Fifth Wall

“I swear to God, that actually happened!” It’s a phrase I’ve heard in so many MICF shows this year, as though truth is the only thing that can justify the existence of standup. Lou Wall’s Breaking the Fifth Wall sets out to prove that this isn’t the case, in a show that’s completely untrue and shockingly funny.

Wall returns to the piece-de-resistance of their previous show, a song about trying to sell a bed on Facebook Marketplace. Within it is a story astonishing enough that whenever its listeners get the opportunity, they invariably ask Wall if it’s true. Sick of the incessant questioning, Wall delivers an hour so steeped in lies, so warped with plot twists, that the truth is utterly indiscernible. 

As Wall’s layers of deception accumulate, so too does the audience’s sense of hilarity and awe. The oscillation between reality and fiction is impressively discombobulating, to the point that their performance isn’t the only thing making you laugh – you’ll laugh equally at yourself for being so easily taken in by Wall’s lies.