August 16, 2026 at Monkey Barrel, Cabaret Voltaire 1
If you like Dan Rath’s usual stuff, you will love this show. If you do not, you might want to give it a miss; Rath recommends that several times throughout this hour, as he dissects the dangers of getting audience members via word of mouth who may not be on board with his vibe. If you don’t know whether you like Dan Rath’s usual stuff, there’s a special on YouTube that you can use to find out; it’s very good, if you like that sort of thing. Help Me Please is more of that sort of thing, and it’s very funny.
Dan Rath’s vibe can be summarized as extreme low status, but there’s a lot more going on than that, mainly strong writing. Lots of comedians have tried this type of persona (though very few commit to it nearly as hard as Rath does), but without solid fundamental jokes, it peters out. Rath can write a fantastic punchline, and he does, over and over and over, because each bit is short enough to require a whole lot of them to fill the timeslot. He can therefore be forgiven for recycling some material – this is my third year in a row seeing him, and each show has had some crossover with the last.
This one had plenty of new stuff compared to last year, and even for the occasional joke that returning customers will have heard before, it’s worth hearing it again, while sitting in the vibe he’s created in the perfectly-suited stone cellar beneath Cabaret Voltaire. The vibe is part of the draw in a show like this – Dan Rath does whatever the opposite of commanding a room is. He visibly shakes on stage, doesn’t look anyone in the eye, constantly comments on his failure to connect with the crowd.
One aspect that will be different every time, even to returning customers, is his (deliberately) stilted crowdwork – this show has less of that than some previous years, but he still dedicates a bit of time to pointing a jittery hand at individuals and asking how they got here, as though the only way anyone could find a show like this is by wandering in through some unfortunate mistake. He has responses ready for every reason, all of them explaining why this audience member represents some aspect of the downfall of Rath’s career.
Help Me Please has a few slightly longer anecdotes than previous shows, and the pace is more meandering than what’s normally associated with a rapidfire one-liner comedian, but the joke rate is still extremely high, as his style prevents any story from getting too long, there’s very little room for padding. On this night, he catches some momentum about halfway through, and goes through about a fifteen-minute period where the laughter never entirely dies down (personally, I could hardly catch my breath from laughing for nearly the entire show), which is enormous fun to be part of.
Dave Baillie