Reviews

January 2012

Chris Ramsey

Offermation

The Soho Theatre, London

(26.01.12)

As soon as Chris Ramsey came on stage, his ease and eagerness to interact with the audience was apparent and, if there wasn’t a time limit, the interactivity could have gone on indefinitely but, believe me, nobody would even think to look at their watches!

Ramsey’s likeability, charisma and “sandancing” charm created a relaxed feel to the whole show with seamless transitions from one brilliantly told story to the next and some really fantastic attention to detail! The fast-paced and highly energetic articulation of each joke both linguistically and physically and the relatability of each anecdote was so well-delivered that the odd heckle was not in fact a heckle but was the perfect example of audience members just “joining in” because they were completely captivated by each story.

As a theme for the nominated Foster Comedy Award show, “Offermation” is quite a broad topic but like a spider-diagram of ideas, Ramsey pulled out both the non-sensical truth of the state of modern technology and communication whilst also highlighting just how funny each of these non-sensical truths are.

For a comedian to say at the end of a performance “I hope you’ve enjoyed listening as much as I’ve enjoyed doing the show” expresses not only how enjoyable it was, from both sides of the stage, but also just how good the atmosphere and buzz in the room was, especially after the finale of the show, which was as surprising as it was superb!

Whereas the urban dictionary might suggest that the information in ‘Offermation’ was “useless” and “unwanted”, at the end of the show, the only thing “unwanted” was for the show to end!

Book tickets

www.chrisramseycomedy.com

@_Chris_Ramsey

Festival of the Spoken Nerd

The Bloomsbury Theatre, London

(18.01.12)

On the day of the Wikipedia Blackout what better show to watch than Festival of the Spoken Nerd! Helen Arney, Steve Mould and Matt Parker delighted the audience with science, story-telling, songs and experiments. Missing fundamentals to astronomy to flame tubes were all delivered with a comic angle and a nerdy twist.

Audience interaction was used at its utmost as the audience were actually given the opportunity after each set to ask questions about it! Mould’s enthusiasm for all things physics (and even lego), Parker’s combination of dry and witty humour that worked very well in explaining some rather tricky mathematical topics and Arney’s melodic and highly impressive musical comedy talent that explored the world of animals to Ancient Greece made the show an absolute delight! The show was so fascinating that at times my review notes became somewhat lecture notes because it was so interesting that the facts and information being delivered on stage, through such an accessible intellectual and comedic medium, were too fascinating to ever forget!

With special guest performances from Kent Valentine, an engaging and lively story-teller whose dangerous experience of napalm certainly entertained the audience and Andrea Sella, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at UCL performed some amazing experiments on stage, the kind you would only read about in text-books at school and the comedic flavour used to explain the science behind them made the experiments even more enjoyable!

Festival of the Spoken Nerd was like Blue Peter for adults meets every nerd’s dream of what a customised Youtube channel would be like…live! The finale was so dazzlingly awesome it’s worth buying a ticket just to see the musical-comedy magic with Vid Warren that bought the unimaginable into the realms of the real.

If ever there was a comedy show where you can completely geek out, laugh and learn it’s Festival of the Spoken Nerd!

Festival of the Spoken Nerd will be at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 2nd February 2012. Book tickets!

www.festivalofthespokennerd.com

@helenarney -  @MouldS  - @standupmaths

Doctor Brown: Becaves

The Soho Theatre, London

(16.01.12)

“I’ve never seen something like that before!” This quote is from the lady sitting next to me after the first scene of Doctor Brown’s show Becaves and it is the most apt way of describing every element of the show.

A performance by Doctor Brown (Philip Burgers) is an experience like no other, so much so that his style of comedy should in fact be in a genre of its own! Burgers has a very special talent, which is that he has an innate ability to form a connection with his audience by picking up on the humour in a room to such an exceptional degree and then performing in such a way that at times it seems almost comically customised.

One of the most special and refreshing features of Doctor Brown’s comedy is the organic nature of it, reflected by the sporadic laughs and communal reactions to some equally shocking and hilarious scenes on stage and emphasised by the combination of Burgess’ close attention to even the detail within the detail and very impressive comic timing!

There was one part of the show that is so difficult to describe, all I can do is show you the reaction I had in my review book:

The show is full of shock, emotion and the anticipation of the unexpected that verges on the sexual. A Doctor Brown show is, as Burgers once described, “pure stupidity” and it is a unique euphoria of silliness that any lover of live comedy should experience!

Book Tickets

Listen to Doctor Brown’s Interview on Humour Me

@drbrowncomedy

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 Max & Iván: Are Holmes & Watson

The Soho Theatre, London

(12.01.12)

Whatever you have planned until Saturday 21st January 2012, make sure at least one night involves going to the Soho Theatre to see Max & Iván: Are Homes & Watson.

Whether you have encyclopedic background knowledge of Holmes & Watson or perhaps have never heard of them before, the whole show is made completely accessible that what may seem as quite a niche topic for a comedy show sees Max & Iván yet again mastering an idea that it is beyond anything you could imagine before you see it live.

The dramatic energy was so electric it could forever light-up Times Square and Broadway with comic watts that power every pun, every accent and every dance move.

Whilst being tightly-scripted and fast paced, Max and Iván still leave plenty of room for off-the-cuff lines with sharp observational references to the contemporary that, be it in the same scene or a seamless transition, never cease to keep their audience laughing out loud. I have to say, Iván’s audience interaction at this evening’s performance was so achingly funny that it left the audience crying with laughter and even the supposed detective duo had difficulty keeping a straight-face.

With reminders of The Foster Comedy Award Panel Prize winners’ phenomenon The Wrestling, it was remarkable to watch Max perform the entire show with one foot in a cast whilst still rather astonishingly moving around and even dancing with such gusto that you forget there was even an inkling of any remaining Edinburgh wounds. The referencing to his broken ankle and the strikingly witty banterous interplay added a really special touch to the show and displayed how inherently funny they both are.

I cannot recommend this show enough –  it was so good that without a doubt it was one of the most enjoyable, exciting and beyond funny comedy shows I have ever seen! The talent and sheer experience of a show by Max & Iván is not to be missed!

Book Tickets

Listen to Max & Iván’s interview on Humour Me!

@maxandivan

Max & Iván’s Roffle Club

December 2011

Paul Foot

Still Life

The Bloomsbury Theatre, London

(16.12.11)

“Do not analyse the humour, yield to it!”

If ever there was a quote by Paul Foot that succinctly summarised how an audience is to react to his comedy, it is the above!

In an outfit that resembled one of the students from The Magic Schoolbus meets Shoreditch chic, Malcolm Head provided the support for Paul Foot, dabbling in different forms of poetry, stories and manifestos. Although the detail and creativity of the stories was humorous, Head’s reception seemed more that of an appreciated humour rather than laugh out loud funny, although there were a few moments of strong laughter that provided a gentle appetiser for the treat about to come.

As the second half began, right from the off-stage announcement, Paul Foot took his audience on a journey of unexpected silliness and extraordinarily hilarious humour. As Paul revealed the structure of the show, ironically this was no preparation for the “glimpses”, “nonsense”, and of course, “Penny” extravaganza that was to take place be it on the Bloomsbury Theatre stage or in the stalls.

From the proximity and at times physicality of Foot’s audience interactivity to a section of the show conducted in almost sole facial expressions and even the familiar leg-orientated movements  – Foot has an outstanding ability to control the room, command the stage and create some of the most unique, exciting and utterly hilarious rants, phrases and scenarios. The audience were so at ease with his humour that even when Foot spoke in “nonsense” it was no barrier to understanding his comedy.

Regardless of how ridiculous Foot’s comedy may seem, it is very very clever! The cyclical nature of the show, the thought behind each statement and the self-deprication that highlights Foot’s somewhat familiarity with the frequent absurdity of his jokes are just some of the contributing factors that puts Paul Foot on the level of a comic genius.

Without a doubt, it was a shambolic masterpiece!

Listen to Paul Foot on Humour Me!

www.paulfoot.tv

@paulfoot

Joz Norris

“I Have Something To Say – An Evening With Matt Fisher”

The Tristan Bates Theatre, London

(13.12.11)

Arrogant, thinks he’s a hit with the ladies and lacking complete self-awareness – Matt Fisher is one of the most exciting comic character creations on the up-and-coming comedy scene.

Joz Norris, the writer and performer of this one-man show, came on stage in a bright red shirt, a pair of grey jeggings and two pairs of sunglasses that provided an effective visual indication of just how moronic but equally hilarious Matt Fisher is. As soon as the show started, the intentional lack of powerpoint to performer synchronisation and the unique yet confident dance moves that lacked synchronisation with the music sparked off the “night of chat, rock, humour, dance, mime, crime and flirting with Tooting’s foremost neo-pre-Raphaelite” – an ambitious tag line but by the end of the show an accomplished one.

With use of multi-media and props including a ukulele and the anticipated recital on the piano and clarinet, there was enough variety in the show to keep the audience focused on the one-man production. But, even without the use of props, Norris still would have done more than retain the audience’s interest as his comic delivery and the actual lines themselves were well-timed, sharp and very funny, highlighting Norris’ own skill as a stand-up as well as a comic actor. The specificity of the humour at times was revealing not only of Norris’ ability to engage with his character, but it revealed a somewhat darker layer to the character of Matt Fisher, a supposed background and childhood upbringing that served as explanatory detail enough for the audience to understand the nature of Matt’s character and why he does “have something to say”.

Some particularly enjoyable moments in the show included Matt’s advice on ‘Nightclubbing’ and his ukulele-rendition love-song that created an unexpected but fitting close to the show.

For a performance that was only “the latest development in an on-going project”, the show, the character, the acting and perhaps most importantly, the comedy was highly impressive. Norris has really tapped into a character that could be something very special. If there’s a space to watch, it’s this one!

Joz Norris’ Interview on Comedy Blogedy

www.joznorris.webs.com

@JozNorris

Joe Wilkinson

My Mum’s Called Stella & My Dad’s Called Brian

The Bloomsbury Theatre, London

(06.12.11)

The theme music for Joe Wilkinson’s entry was MGMT’s ‘Kids’, a song that seemed to encapsulate his playful opening as, after raising his hands high in the air several times, as is characteristic of him, he jumped down and lovingly hugged individual members of the audience before literally rolling back onto the stage. This opening acted as a somewhat preface to the show as Wilkinson, whilst humouring the audience with a few anecdotes, used this opening to introduce his own support act.

Alistair Green followed starting with some strong jokes with sharp punchlines that had echoes of Wilkinson’s comedic style. The material mainly centred around Green’s medical history with some clever comic inversions, although his style and delivery became a bit too casual at some points and then seemed to lose a bit of steam towards the end…  But there were many enjoyable and self-depricating stories.

When Joe started his main set for the show in the second half, he filled the room with lots of laughter, but not any laughter, the kind where people continue to chuckle in the more quiet moments in the set-up for the next joke. His style was laid back, relaxed and rather quirky with fantastic delivery throughout the show, and at times, exceptional. His material became increasingly self-depricating, particularly when he got onto the topic of how he should approach his “first stand-up tour”, as advised by a friend, by “talking about his life up to that point”.

Wilkinson has a captivating ability to recreate the absurdity of the situations and people he has experienced, particularly those of the mundane. He has a charm on stage that really accentuates the humour within all his stories. If this was his first stand-up tour, he’s certainly set a high level for the next!

Read Joe Wilkinson’s Interview on Comedy Blogedy

@gillinghamjoe

Apocalypso! Adventures in time, travel and time travel

Hen & Chickens Theatre, London

(02.12.12)

The evening began with the compere Matthew Crosby dabbling in some light banter with a member of the audience who arrived late. Although humorous, his prepared material was a lot stronger, turning his honest confessions into some very good jokes indeed!

The Apocalypso duo, Matt and Stu, came on stage in an outfit that seemed inspired by CSI meets a visit to the London Zoo giftshop headware section. Despite the intimate size of the theatre, each had a microphone switiching from explanations of a supposed Apocalypse to more general topics of stand-up. The whole show centred around “educating the past about the future” up until the year 2042, with many new species, laws and personal “future” experiences recounted. There were lots of props, although very much on the homemade side, but you could tell that a lot of time, thought and effort had gone into the concept of the production. There were lots of interactive moments, including members of the audience holding a time-line of events as well as two team captains for the pub quiz at the end, whereby the whole audience was quizzed upon information given throughout the show! (If you do see the show, remember to pay attention to the specifics if you want to win!)

The show might have started off quite gently but once the audience got into it and realised that it wasn’t the sort of comedy where there was something “to get”, the atmosphere was a lot more relaxed and audience members were willing to let themselves become more involved in the comedy. One audience member in particular, the winning team captain, was “captured” by Stuart and Matt at the end of the show but before he left the show with the comedy duo, he had to dress appropriately for the year 2042. I doubt the outfit will appear on the front cover of GQ December issue 2042 as it had a look somewhat of a lollipop man on the verge or a nervous breakdown but, still, nevertheless, a very creative use of prop comedy.

It was an enjoyable show with some really well-thought out and funny moments and it will be interesting to see how the concept and the show develops…

Apocalypso Website

@2042lovesu

Abandoman & Friends: Presented by Really Lovely Comedy

Kings Place, London

(01.12.12)

What better way to start the Really Lovely Comedy one-off special than an MC who comes on stage and shouts “Let’s tear the shit off the roof!” Naz Osmanoglu bounded on stage with enough energy to power all the electricity in both the King’s Place and the Guardian building next door. Delivering a few bits of material at the beginning of the show about being half-Turkish and half-English, this sparked off his audience interaction upon which all his material centred around each time he came on stage. Picking on one audience member with, and I quote, “I’m sticking with you because you have potential” his inkling was right as the “software developer” was also a part time swing dancer who happily proceeded to get up on his chair with the lady next to him and start to swing dance! But not only does Osmanoglu have a special comic skill, which is to be able to base all the jokes in the show around the audience – and make them funny and clever! – but he ran with each joke with the tone of a sports commentator describing his favourite sports team about to score a goal and the energy of the sports player about to score that goal. A fantastic compere for the whole evening!

Abandoman was the first act of the night. Without a doubt, Abandoman are one of the best and most creative comedy acts on the circuit. I can’t even begin to describe how remarkable it is to watch Rob Broderick, accompanied by James Hancox, with backing from Phil Donnelly and Sam Wilson, improvise comic hip-hop raps on stage and turn what seems to be some of the most mundane objects one has “in their pocket” into the most hilariously clever and astonishingly well-rhymed songs. But it’s not just objects as Abandoman create “the greatest musical” written and performed simultaneously on stage between two members of the audience and then finishing on a “revolution” song about oyster cards, office lunches and silverware. I can’t recommend seeing Abandoman enough. It is almost magical watching the most brilliant and clever rhymes come alive on stage. They’re so good I wouldn’t be surprised if fans replaced their internet ‘Home’ page to “Abandoman: Upcoming Shows” instead of Google. They are amazing in every sense of the word.

McNeil and Pamphilon followed with sketches that varied from a scene at a urinal to interesting descriptions of an H&M cagool to Batman (with a somewhat Antonio Banderas-esque voice) ordering a burger. The “two white middle class guys who won’t give up the dream” delivered sharp, clever and funny sketches that filled the room with a kind of BBC Radio 4 comedy audience laugh.

Jay Foreman opened the second half of the show and what appears at first as comedy that seems quite light-hearted, the two line transitional-bridge-jokes show a darker side to this musical comedy. What sets Jay Foreman apart from a lot of other musical comedy acts is the fact that the actual musical composition of his songs are well-crafted, with intricate musical detail that often highlights if not acts as one of the jokes in the song and the lyrics are very funny as well! With songs that ranged from “the Royal Wedding going wrong” to an encounter with Sooty and a description of  a desired “slightly imperfect girl” – Foreman’s musical comedy was just a delight!

The final act of the evening was The Beta Males. You could see from their very first sketch that this was a sketch group with energy in abundance and kept it up throughout every sketch they performed. The sketches were all enjoyable and sometimes even educational, such as the sketch about the first landing on the moon with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and…Michael Collins – I don’t think the audience will ever forget either that the third member of the first lunar surface landing was called Michael Collins or the naked performance within that recurring scene by a certain member of The Beta Males. But what stood out was the creativity of their sketches, particularly a not-so-normal bedtime story read, their miming sketch in a tunnel, and the final sketch where I’ve never seen so many modes of transport put to such innovative use! They may call themselves The Beta Males but it’s certainly alpha comedy!

 The show was not only really lovely, but really entertaining, really enjoyable and, perhaps most importantly for a comedy gig, really funny!

November 2011

Knock2Bag

Bar FM, Shepherds Bush, London

(23.11.11)

The club was packed. Even upon entering Bar FM, it had that Saturday night buzz and it was only a Wednesday night! A significant amount of people were even happy to stand for the show. Lloyd Griffith MC’d the night, providing just the right level of audience banter to “get you in the mood” before each act came on. The great thing about Lloyd, especially as an MC, is the pace at which he builds up his material. The jokes are slick but the choir boy a capella surprise adds that extra level to his set, especially juxtaposing a Pavarotti-esque rendition with different “tape” impressions and so accurate that if someone had literally started to pull a piece of cellotape by the microphone you wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. The first comedian of the night was Nish Kumar, who humoured the audience with jokes centring around multiculturalism and being a British-Asian. Nothing wildly adventurous but he was articulate, his jokes were succinct and performed with that “easy watching” feel to his set.

The second section of the show started with Robin & Partridge. With one half of the duo in a coat that resembled something of “The Highwayman” meets Autumn-Winter chic, they began their set with a horse rap moving to a “circle of trust” experience including a “trust thrust” and observationally acted out jokes about Safari. They’re a very unique act in that the oddities and at times ridiculous nature of their puns and the way in which they’re delivered have an endearing quality about them, delivered with a great punchy energy that you can’t wait for the next pun and their jokes are so clever! A really exciting comedy duo!

Adam Hess followed and I really feel there isn’t anyone quite like him on the circuit. His set is crazy but controlled at the same time and his one-liners are so simple but so clever that they fill the room with laughter. On paper it would seem somewhat bizzare for a comedian to shout “Remix” in between each joke but it works, and the aside comments heighten the hilarity. There are certain one-liners of his that would only work if delivered with the most accurate and articulate tempo, which makes the whole act astonishing to watch. And the fact that the final part of his set included longer stories that were just as funny as his puns and one-liners showed that he’s not just a one-line pun comic and the time he spent on stage was enough to confirm why he won Chortle Student Comedian of the Year 2011.

In the final section of the show, Alex Horne came on stage accompanied by a man, who stood at the back, silent, and could have convincingly acted as a bodyguard. When Alex seemed to start speaking, the sound coming from the microphone sounded more like he was speaking on radio than he was live in a comedy club. Had something happened to the mic in the interval? Were the audience imagining things? No – it was a recording of the opening of a set that Alex mimed, a remarkable craft of comic genius that managed to act both as a piece of comedy as well as an observational piece about comedy. And as Horne transitioned into a “live” set, his material about language, grammar and punctuation, even singing a song about the days of the week in English, French, German and Japanese demonstrated what a clever and impressive comic Horne is. As he finished his set with a “phonecall” to Tesco – whether or not a supermarket chose not to have a “Press 1 for…” feature on their customer service phoneline is another story – but the joke itself, highlighting the absurdity of antibacterial handwipe packaging was both illuminating whilst also hilarious.

The final act of the night was Nick Helm. I had never seen Nick Helm before and didn’t quite know what to expect but what he performed tonight was just brilliant! If only I could explain just how funny it was to watch a man come on stage and repeatedly shout to a single audience member “Do you like jokes?” with the aggression and attack that Helm gave it – quite frankly, his delivery throughout the whole set was remarkable. Often the odd audience member might leave the room for a moment, trying to sneak out without being noticed, but never before have I seen a comedian isolate several audience members or any person who so much as flinched whilst he was performing and completely command the room with his hyperbolic reaction to a potential interruption. His final song with an ever so small hint of Barney in the “I love you and you love me” lyrics took the audience by storm and had the whole audience signing along with him at the end. As angry and intense as Helm may seem on the surface, his performance is balanced by a loveably endearing nature that makes his whole performance an experience to watch. He showed what that thrill of watching live comedy is all about. Just brilliant.

With a mid-week bill that consisted of such a high calibre and variety of acts, not only are the acts must sees but Knock2Bag is a must go. 

www.knock2bag.co.uk

@knock2bag

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Totally Tom

The Soho Theatre, London

(19.11.11)

As soon as the ‘Bring It On’ theme tune filled the room, Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton burst on stage with their high energy cheerleading and over the top dance routine that sparked off the first sketch – a Club Med satire. Already you could see that their style was clever and sharp paying close attention to detail that made the sketches very funny indeed, a feature of their comedy that continued throughout the whole show.

By the nature of sketch comedy, you would expect sketch actors to be able to switch roles and scenes quickly and with fluidity, that’s a given, but what’s special about Totally Tom is the fact that within seconds of switching scenes and quite often accents, for example German to Australian to many different varieties of the English accent throughout the ages, you felt completely encapsulated within each sketch and each sketch was just as enjoyable (and believable) as the next. And there were some really good transitional songs between each sketch as well that added to the whole enjoyment of the night.

All of the sketches were fantastic but some that were particularly entertaining included a sketch set at a Gentlemen’s club, a 21^st birthday speech and a drug addiction-esque obsession with photobooths – if you watched their pilot on the Channel 4 Comedy Lab then you’ll know exactly which scene I’m referring to. There were quite a few sketches that were featured in the Comedy Lab pilot but now having seen the raw form of each sketch and how it then translated onto television with many more props, costumes and make-up than were supplied at the Soho Theatre it heightened just how clever each of the sketches were and allowed the audience to appreciate them in a different way.

What makes the Totally Tom sketch group so special to watch is the fact that their close friendship really comes alive on stage in that there is such an ease and comfort about the way they perform together, a real sense of trust between them which allows them to feel free in exploring any unscripted banter or improvisation on stage. After watching their sketch show it’s no surprise why they were nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Festival this year.

Now for their next sketch show… Bring it on!

Totally Tom will be performing at the New Red Lion Theatre in Angel as part of their residency on 29th November and 19th December. They will also be performing at Knock2Bag on 14th December. For more information and to buy tickets click here.

Listen to an interview with Totally Tom on Humour Me

www.totally-tom.com

Youtube

Twitter: @totallytom101

Facebook

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 The Axis of Awesome

The Shaw Theatre, London

(17.11.11)

As a Roland Juno-Di, a guitar and three microphones awaited the show to start, as well as a sold out Shaw Theatre, at just the sound of The Axis of Awesome on the voice over, the crowd went crazy and the group came on stage to the sound of rapturous applause and cheering. Straight away, the inter-band banter got started with Jordan and Lee dominating the introduction leaving Benny yet to introduce himself and subject to an elder sibling meets actual comedian commentary with almost every word he said, pretty much all the way through the show, and a characteristic unique and special to the group and not least hilarious! In a somewhat CV-esque style, they each introduced themselves with a bit of background about their ‘role’ in the band and qualifications, which was a lovely touch to the start of the show.

Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo and Benny Davis each have such an ease on stage, individually characteristic to them, that the comic performance is not only present in their very funny and clever lyrics. As they got underway with their repertoire, creating their own kind of ‘bridge’ between each song with a reworking of the Aerosmith classic “I don’t wanna miss a thing” chorus, at times, it seemed as if the show was almost a rock concert in a massive stadium or arena as the style of their songs, musical talent and reaction from the audience was certainly comparable! Playing through many of their Youtube and album hits, you could tell just how excited certain members of the audience were at the anticipation their favourite song would be played confirmed by the fact that during the song “Birdplane” for example, three members of the audience sitting behind me actually held up a home-made poster that said “No, it’s a birdplane” with a picture of a hand-drawn picture of a “birdplane” – #nowthatiswhatyoucallcommitment.

It might only have been the band and their instruments, with no pyrotechnics or over-the-top stage accessories, but the simple and to an extent naturalistic stage design allowed the audience to fully appreciate the raw talent of the group, particularly their improvisational ability, verging on the surreal at times, that reinforced the fact that you might love watching their videos online, but seeing them live is something no URL can ever deliver.

Ending the show with one of their greatest hits and one of the most watched Youtube videos of all time, they left the stage to such an amazing energy of applause and cheers that they were called back for an encore and performed a fantastic musical comedy rap about KFC which truly showed off how talented the group are – at rapping, musical comedy, performance, lyricism and creativity. Awesome by name, awesome by nature!

The Axis of Awesome are currently on tour, check them out at a theatre near you, buy tickets from their website. Follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube

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Office Party Show

Pleasance, Islington

(12.11.11)

As the audience stood in the bar area waiting for the Office Party Show to start, a woman who was in the same “Marketing” team as me, we’ll call her Barbara, shared her anxiety about attending an interactive-comedy night and how apprehensive she was about what to expect. The whole audience was divided up into different departments of Product Solutions, marketing, domestic services, the creative team etc. Every “office worker” had a name badge with their department thus easily identifiable for office banter. It was amazing how quickly audience members began to banter with their “Head of Department” and you could hear the laughter from each team in the rooms nearby. In the case of the Marketing, our board room meeting was disrupted by a conga line from Domestic Services.

This somewhat “warm-up” activity flowed into the actual Office Party Show whereby all the different departments were lead into essentially a massive club room with 2 stages, a bar constantly serving drinks, a DJ and a dancefloor. The CEO then came on stage to make the “Christmas Party Speech”, with the crass obnoxious familiarity of The Office’s David Brent. Throughout the show there’s plenty of opportunity to dance to some classic Office Christmas Party hits such as Abba, the Jackson 5 as well as some current songs from the charts as well.

There are two stages in the main club room, so whilst one stage is used for competitions involving balloons, pudding races and fancy dress (where you can win a very large bottle of Vodka!), the other has (naked) cabaret and musical comedy performances.  In fact, it was during the fancy dress competition that I saw Barbara, no longer the apprehensive member of the Marketing team, strutting her stuff with full confidence across the stage!

As the party gets underway, and the “Heads of Department” get even more “drunk”, the strip pole is put to use by the more promiscuous member of the Product Solution office team – and in the dancing after, several members of the audience have a go as well!

Part of the fun of the whole evening is that you can’t quite tell which acts are staged and which aren’t, as audience members become very involved in the spirit of the show, and it is no exaggeration to say that some members of the audience get too involved! The fact that it’s comedians acting as the “Heads of Department” really adds that extra spice to the show, as the banter and witty responses to the alpha-male-esque office hecklers in the audience is brilliant and the comedians even mix and dance with other audience members on the dancefloor. Whether it’s because the show is at Pleasance or just the sheer creativity, it’s one of the closest opportunities you can get to experience the Edinburgh Festival in the winter.

Although the official Office Party Show may finish, the actual party goes on after the show as Pleasance open up the dancefloor, DJing with great party songs and they keep the bar open until the end. And the fact that so many people stayed on to dance and drink and, well, be merry was a testament to what a fantastic night everyone had. This show is perfect for an office Christmas party, a birthday or even just going out with friends. I can’t recommend it enough!

You can buy £10 tickets from lastminute.com and find out more information about the Office Party Show on their website. Vote for Office Party Show as ‘Best Night Out’ at London Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2011

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 Bright Club: Stars

The Bloomsbury Theatre

(11.11.11)

Bright Club is one of the most original and creative shows at the moment in both the comedy and academic world! The concept was pioneered by UCL and has grown all over the UK and is even spreading across the world! University professors and researchers, namely UCL (although there was one non-UCLer on the bill tonight) performed stand-up comedy about their field of interest along with other top comedians, including Lucy Porter. Each Bright Club show is themed, tonight it was themed on ‘Stars’, which meant that, amongst a variety of academic disciplines, there were lots of physicists, geographers…and even an archaeologist on the bill.

The show included everything from political satire, to conversational stand-up to musical comedy on a guitar, ukulele and keyboard respectively.  Each performer approached the subject of ‘Stars’ from a completely different perspective from one act to the next – everything from literally talking about the sun and planets to Jordan’s autobiography and Isaac Asimov’s ‘Treasury of Humour’, the last two of which were discussed in Lucy Porter’s set. All the performers were fantastic, however, Dr. Jason Dittmer’s insight into the thought process that occurs when a lecturer is asked a question, Jen Gupta’s play on astronomical acronyms and Gavin Osborne’s musical songs that included lyrics such as “I wanted to go into space for the wrong reason…we wanted to join the 100 mile high club”.

Lloyd Langford compered the night and despite stating on the UCL website: “I hope the intelligentsia clasp me to their bosom. Fingers crossed nobody finds out I only got one A* at GCSE.” And then announcing in his opening set that he “only got one A* at GCSE”, he couldn’t have been a more delightful compere! Very sharp and clever jokes – he gave that comedy club feel to the night but balanced it perfectly with the intellectually apt asides and observations that filled the theatre with laughter and applause breaks. It was a rather “intellectual” audience, and the occasional heckle to Lloyd (there were no heckles during the acts’ performance) included “Would you like some twiglets?”

The show was sold out – after tonight’s performance it’s not a surprise why – and there was an academic comic buzz amongst the audience. It was so refreshing to see how both the researchers and the professionals – and even the comedians – had such a passion for their subject and you could see how much they loved sharing their knowledge with the audience through a comic medium.

Bright Club is how every student dreams their lectures to be!

Bright Club returns to The Bloomsbury Theatre on 10th February on the subject of ‘Love’. You can also join Bright Club on New Years Eve at the Wilmington Arms for their end of year party!

www.brightclub.org

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Wisecrack Comedy Night

Central Station, King’s Cross, London

(07.11.11)

Wisecrack Comedy Night is a new act/open mic night for aspiring comics and takes place at Central Station in King’s Cross. The event is run by Sahar Mirhadi and Lucy Jagger, who compere the nights with all the buzz and energy you would want at a new act comedy night.

The stage has a somewhat Romeo and Julietesque characteristic but it all adds to the charm of the evening. Mirhadi and Jagger “wanted somewhere for comics to come and try new material in an atmosphere that’s warm and happy and accepting.” The night is centred around new acts trying out 5 minutes of stand-up as well as headliner acts at the end of both the first and second half – last night’s bill included Junior Booker and Lou Sanders respectively.

Wisecrack Comedy is open to comics of all levels, be it your first gig or a gig with a few more zeros on the end. “We want our night to be a place where both acts and people can come and have a good time.”

There’s a really supportive atmosphere in the audience, and a great sense of humility about each of the acts who perform. In fact, Wisecrack feels so supportive that last night, there was a “one-liner” competition where anyone could come on stage and do a one-liner – the warmth and sense of community of the gig really showed at this point because not only did acts but audience members (and reviewer) went on stage and entertained the audience with one-liners, performing to an impromptu judging panel made up of the bar staff.

Each event is themed mainly around the seasons or major events near the time of the gig, such as “Ejecting Stars and Bangs Show” for Guy Fawkes night, “World Hello Day” coinciding with the date of the next event and lots of Christmas themed gigs to come after that – so acts get your Christmas crackers ready! (However, do not feel that your material needs to be themed around this topic.)

If you’re a new act and you’re looking for a lovely place to come and laugh and have a go at making others laugh as well – get yourself down to Wisecrack Comedy!

Wisecrack Comedy is held on the first and third Monday of the month at Central Station pub in King’s Cross. Check the Facebook group for updates and more details. If you’re a new act looking to perform, e-mail: wisecrackcomedy@gmail.com

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Mitch Benn & The Distractions

The Bloomsbury Theatre, London

(05.11.11)

By Sara Shulman

At Embankent, a local park or in your back garden perhaps – no, it was Mitch Benn and the Distractions on their Ode Warrior tour that lit up The Bloomsbury stage tonight with a musical comedy spectacular of satire, puns and a made to order song about Prince Philip, Berlusconi and Justin Bieber.

Mitch Benn, Kirsty Newton and Ivan Sheppard took to the stage and got straight into the show with a song that featured Christmas cracker jokes in the style of Bob Dillan, political humour in the style of Chaz and Dave and puns in the style of Bjork.  There were  no elaborate stage settings or props or visual effects, just musicians/comedians rocking out.

The stand-up in between each song or as Mitch called it, the ‘explanatory preamble’ was very funny indeed and although each song could stand on its own as a hit, the comic explanations were well delivered and gave each of the songs that extra bit of sparkle.

There were so many fantastic songs throughout the whole show but ‘I don’t wanna play World of Warcraft’, the ‘positive break-up song’ and the rock meets lullaby-esque advice song to one’s children are to name but a few of the songs that had the audience laughing with applauses during the songs…and those were just in the first half.

Just before the interval, audience members shouted out popular news stories that saw Mitch Benn return to the stage in the second half with a song that included lyrics such as “I can do whatever I bloody like because I’m a bloody prince”. And when you thought it was already great, it just kept getting better. With songs such as “Everything sounds like Coldplay now” (of which Mitch Benn’s Chris Martin choreography was so apt and subsequently so so funny), “an allergic country song” written and performed by Kirsty Newton and then a song that reflected how things were ‘politically vague’ and ‘keep changing’ were musically and visually represented on stage with Mitch, Kirsty and Ivan changing and playing on each other’s instruments whilst still being bang in beat and displaying how musically talented each member of the show was – even playing two instruments at the same time!

Of all the songs that were played in the show, “Song for Europe” was exceptional. If ever there was a reason to see a musical comedy show for one song, that was it. Don’t wait to see it on Youtube. See it live. The imagination and lyrical uniqueness in a song that describes the real attitudes of each Eurovision country towards each other has never been articulated – or sung – so bluntly as the audience experienced at the Bloomsbury. And not just singing, as Mitch then rapped…about quantum mechanics…in the voice of Brian Cox.

But one of the most enjoyable parts of the show was to watch someone on stage who you could feel genuinely loved what he was doing and performed every song with as much energy and passion as the next. As Mitch said, “Music and comedy are [his] favourite things…but music was the first”. It was also obvious, not only form the “Proud of the BBC” t-shrits worn by quite a few audience members, including Mitch himself, that he has a very loyal fan base with cheers and applause at even the slightest hint that he was about to play a Mitch Benn and the Distractions classic. And speaking of classic, the show finished on ‘Proud of the BBC’ – usually performers have to start off the clapping-in-beat-along-with-the-song-above-their-head-action but the audience actually started it themselves which was just a testament of how much everyone enjoyed the show, along with the encore. And if that didn’t show it enough, the length of the queue to buy the ‘Proud of the BBC’ t-shirt after the show certainly did. The show was a display of musical comedy fireworks!

For Mitch Benn & The Distractions gig dates as well as more info, videos check out Mitch’s website.

Twitter: @mitchbenn

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 Alun Cochrane

The Bloomsbury Theatre, London

(02.11.11)

By Liam Garrett

From the disclaimer on his poster that he is ‘by no means the star’ of the various shows on which he has made appearances to his unassuming saunter on stage at the packed out Bloomsbury Theatre, Alun Cochrane comes across as a very humble man. His new show, Moments of Alun, has equally humble ambitions – exploring the peculiarities and overwhelming nature of daily life.

He begins in his typical self-deprecating fashion, mocking the pretensions of his ’boutique tour’ and warning the crowd not to expect too much.  As most comics do, he slips into some effortless banter with audience members and although it doesn’t particularly unearth any comedic gold it is done with a gentle teasing that clearly displays Cochrane’s skills both at bouncing off the crowd and weaving his own material around their responses.

He continues in the first half of his show discussing a range of topics, from forgetting to take out dog insurance to his observations on B&Q and their army of cardboard Alan Titchmarshes. The latter has a slightly surreal quality but it is clearly not ground breaking material, but so what? He makes astute and well-presented observations to which the continuous roars of laughter pay testament. It is in these domestic quirks and oddities of day to day life that Cochrane finds and manages to extract his humour. This is further presented in the second half of the show, in which he focuses on his move to a new house and all this entails. Although sounding a tad mundane, he has a fantastic routine about his mortgage obligations and being tied in to being funny for its 25 year duration. I think what makes Cochrane stand out and really elevates him and his comedy above numerous other stand-ups is his complete lack of cynicism. This is most apparent when he talks about his wife and son. He is honest but still hilarious and he doesn’t resort to making cheap jokes at their expense.

Although he clearly has a kind side, Cochrane makes it very clear that he has a misanthropic streak. He sums this up by saying ‘people do my fucking nut in sometimes,’ a sentiment to which, I am sure, everyone can relate. This sees him railing against various targets, from annoying friends to a specific unscrupulous home buyer. This side of Cochrane allows him to explore some of his slightly darker thoughts and adds a great deal of depth and range to his material.

Having said this, I do have one criticism that comes at the end of the show. Cochrane attempts to wrap everything up through a sketch featuring Darth Vader at the hairdresser. Although the concept is certainly a unique and superbly surreal finale, the content seemed a bit forced and awkward with callbacks seemingly jammed in for the sake of it. It just seemed slightly unnecessary, especially as so much of Cochrane’s skill lies in his meandering through observations and day dreams which don’t have or need such a neat conclusion.

During the show, Cochrane notes that his misanthropy gives him ‘the capacity to suck the joy out of a day out,’ which he proves through the tale of a motorhoming holiday. Although this may be the case, at the Bloomsbury Theatre, he makes it patently clear that he is equally as capable of injecting joy in to the days out of others.

Alun’s Website

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October 2011

Sheeps

The Leicester Square Theatre, London

(21.10.11)

By Sara Shulman

Have you ever wanted to watch a comedy sketch that includes Eminem, Quentin Letts and Major Charles Ingram in one sketch? But not just that, watch an original rap performed by “Eminem” in relation to his fury at the cheating fiasco on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Look no further than a bill that includes Sheeps! This up-and-coming sketch comedy group, starring Liam Williams, Alastair Roberts and Daran Johnson performed new material at the Leicester Square Theatre and will be performing again on 7th November. Get ready to be taken on an “around the world trip” to both England and France…and then back to England, (and at one point in your journey you visit Hollywood) but mainly England and France. Each sketch is very well-acted with the ever-so-slightly eccentric ‘baaa’ of a sheep-sound effect to signal the next scene change.

Sheeps have a rather original approach to audience interaction, requesting audiences members to answer phrases such as “Don’t you like it?” with “Yeah…it’s all right” and whenever Sheeps begin to “lose confidence”, the audience shout “Keep going Sheeps!” The self-depricating nature of their material and their ability to step out of character (as part of the actual sketch) and ridicule the structure of the scene or the like, adds a rather charming and clever edge to their sketches.

The laughter in the audience was also the kind of laughter where you could just feel that everyone was enjoying it and engaging with their sketches.

Sheeps really are a very talented sketch-group with sharp, funny and original material. A really enjoyable performance!

Sheeps’ Website

See Sheeps perform at The Leicester Square Theatre

Check out Liam Williams’ interview on Comedy Blogedy

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Doc Brown: ‘Unfamous’

The Bloomsbury Theatre, London

DVD Recording

(20.10.11)

By Sara Shulman

Elis James opened the show as Doc Brown’s support. His slow, soothing and wonderfully Welsh accent gave a charming tone to his jokes. Exploring some very funny inspirations behind Welsh words and their meanings, he moved through his material with a fluidity and excellent rhythm, dabbling in audience participation. His syllabic articulacy and attention to the pedantic gave each joke that extra bit of hilarity. Kudos for being able to deliver several of his jokes with such speed yet completely crisp articulation, it was rather amazing to hear! Elis James was very impressive, a very good comedian.

The Bloomsbury Theatre was then transformed to what seemed like a battle-rap gig with a strong and powerful rapper taking and storming the stage but then at the end of the song, Doc’s sharp change in tone cemented that it was indeed a comedy show, or as Doc said himself, “an anti-rap rap show”.  His opening set material was lively and engaging and gave the audience just a taste of his skill at changing his vocal levels and tones to produce some very funny punchlines.

Doc then moved into a rap about the police with an exploding energy that finished with an applause break. But not just the police rap, every song – and not just for theatrical convention but for sheer appreciation – finished with an applause break. In fact, my pen could barely keep up with the excitement and buzz filling the auditorium…and it was only the second song! But Doc showed that he was not just a humorous lyricist, his actual stand-up material and ability as a comedian was fantastic, especially his spontaneous, off-the-cuff observation about the colour black in his outfit, for taking his black rapper-hoody off to reveal a black t-shirt, trouser and shoe combination was like going from “gangster-type black to GCSE-drama black”.

Doc moved seamlessly from joke to joke with great articulation and style but it was so much more than that because every joke was delivered with such a charismatic touch that it created a real engaging feel with his audience and his audience to his material. The structure of the show saw the audience journey through tales of Doc’s life that made him who he is today. Holding a copy of ‘White Teeth’ by his sister Zadie Smith, Doc delivered some charming sibling banter with a lightly humoured subtext to buy his sister’s book, but not just any type of book… [tap tap tap with the mic] – hardback!

There was an intriguing object in the middle of the stage and it was rather difficult to work out exactly what it was until Doc threw off the cover and revealed the O.H.P and his jokes about “acetate…that’s right bitches! I’ve learned the lingo, now learn from me…” highlighted the creativity with which he transitioned from straight stand-up to him then rapping about what street-lingo really means. The word play, timing and sheer craft behind each word in his rap was astonishing. At one point in the show, Doc sat in the audience, emphasising the point in a story, but so casual and so cool it felt like it was a natural part of the show, so natural in fact for that split-second it seemed that it was the normal thing for a performer to do in a show – just have a seat in the audience.

Doc’s material grew more self-depricating and confessional as the show progressed from more humorous topics of why he wishes “David Attenborough was his granddad” to more seriously-toned but no less humorous topics about his militant-activist phase in his adolescence and his life in the music industry. His rap about how easy it is to be a ‘Hypeman”, relating to his time touring with Mark Ronson, demonstrated how well he had engaged his audience, as we were expected to finish the last word of his sentences and…we did! By the end of the show, we were all rapping with Doc Brown!

There’s something very special about Doc Brown on stage – because his stage presence is so personable and cheeky and utterly charismatic, jokes just rolled off the tongue, keeping the audience roaring with laughter all the way through the show. His lyrics were sharp, witty and very intelligent with a rhythm and rhyme that seemed only deliverable with the explosive power he gave to every word he articulated. Although Doc’s performance at The Bloomsbury was the last performance of ‘Unfamous’ live, I cannot recommend enough buying Doc’s DVD and (not and/or, just and) seeing Doc live – his show was just fantastic and what seems as a website-tagline that verges on the side of arrogance – “Comedian, Rapper and Bloody Good Entertainer” – well, he’s bloody right!

Listen to Doc Brown co-present as well as his interview on ‘Humour Me’, UCLU Rare FM

Doc Brown’s Website & Twitter

Read Elis James’ interview for Comedy Blogedy

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September 2011

Show Me The Funny

The Bloomsbury Theatre, London

DVD Recording

(25.09.11)

By Sara Shulman

Since the Show Me The Funny series finished at the end of August, the three finalists, Tiffany Stevenson, Dan Mitchell and Patrick Monahan have been touring the UK making people laugh from screen to stage. Patrick Monahan Live: Show Me The Funny Winner’s DVD, which can be pre-ordered from Amazon and is available at shops for Christmas, was filmed last night at the UCL Bloomsbury Theatre, London.

Dan Mitchell opened the show against a backdrop of metallic rigging and a somewhat Holllywood meets Starwars lighting design, as he confidently addressed the audience with his famous ‘alright’ greeting. Predictable (if you watched the show) but no less amusing! Although quite a lot of his opening material had already been used during the show, he chose to retell his best jokes such as the ‘speceleptic’ and ‘pavement raver’ routine which filled the room with laughter – from both fans who knew what punchline was coming and from new audiences that had not previously watched the show. The rest of his material was full of highly amusing anecdotes, the hilarity of which was excelled by his Welsh charm. As viewers experienced during the show, Dan seems a rather big fan of jokes that explain the origins of names. Whereas “the whelk joke and the “legend of old” was slightly hard to follow during his set in Week 6, Dan decided to explain the origin of the word “jellyfish” in the Welsh language. No tenuous links, no ancient names, no difficulty following the joke – just a very enjoyable and funny explanation.

Tiffany Stevenson dazzled the stage in a gold glittery dress – an outfit that certainly reflected the nature of her performance. She opened with her strong set of one liners, again repeating successful jokes from the series, but they were just as enjoyable and a reminder of why Tiffany got to the final. There was some particularly strong material about Tiff’s boyfriend and getting older, which was made even more sharp and witty by her somewhat sarcy yet endearing tone. It was great to be able to enjoy a good-20 minute set, likewise with Dan, as opposed to the 5 minute or so routine viewers had seen during the series.

Pat Monahan then took to the stage – “no titting about – focus!” he jested with a cheeky grin. A reference that was applauded by the SMTF viewers in the audience! Anyone that has ever seen Pat perform live will know how fantastic his interaction with the audience is.  Having been criticised for “titting about”, I was curious to see whether the majority, if not all, of his set would be prepared material. It was so refreshing to see that Pat hadn’t let the judges criticism change the nature of his comic style and thus several members of the audience were humiliated for the enjoyment of everyone, particularly a 17-year-old boy who I’m sure will  be appearing on the DVD. Pat hardly did any material from the SMTF series, although there were a few jokes from his recent Edinburgh show, particularly the final part of his set – it’s worth buying the DVD just to see the final section of his routine! There’s something very special about seeing Pat live, it feels as if the audience almost becomes a community as he guides his audience through his observationally accurate and well-organised material with such ease. Pat is becoming a really impressive comedian.

Whatever the editors decide to show in the DVD, it’s definitely more than funny!

Nathan Caton: Get Rich or Die Cryin’

Kings Place (22.09.11)

By Sara Shulman

The evening began with the first of two support acts – Romesh Ranganathan. The majority of his opening material centred around ethnicity and racial discrimination – it was delivered at quite a slow pace but the punch lines were funny enough to pull off the speed. His diction was clear and crisp but at times the delivery was so slow that certain members of the audience managed to articulate the punchline before him. Lots of great material, just speed it up.

Matt Richardson then took to the stage with his high-energy and highly amusing anecdotal style. Although he was heckled for “talking too fast”, this was more a reflection of that particular audience members’ aural ability, or more like lack of, rather than Matt’s perfectly intelligible comic delivery. With material about living at home with his parents, his local surroundings of Oxford and his observations on “the opposite sex”, his set was fresh, funny and one full of potential.

Nathan Caton’s set began with some very amusing audience interactions, with much of it picking up on individuals who had already made a name for themselves. A particularly enjoyable moment was when the show almost turned into Nathan giving relationship advice after asking a “couple” on the front row if they were, in fact, a couple. His punchlines were sharp, illuminating and topical – with many observations focusing on the summer riots and linking lots of the jokes to the younger members of Nathan’s audience (whose age was a topic of much discussion for each of the comedians). The set then moved on to lots of very funny descriptions about his family’s eccentricities, such as Nathan’s brother, the “Your mum…” jokes saga at his sister’s birthday party and stories about his grandma – the impersonating accent of which was fabulous! The final section of the show examined the wonder of what is Tinie Tempah’s lyrics. As Nathan Caton says himself “Nice song, stupid lyrics”. I should confess that I have seen Nathan’s set on Tinie Tempah before, however, not only do I actually look forward to hearing this particular set again but no matter how many times I’ve heard him analyse Written in the Stars and Frisky, it is no less hysterical. Fact.

The show was very enjoyable and the audience were really engaged with what Nathan was saying, which created a genuine community feel to the gig. As he closed, Nathan’s cyclical style rounded off with some final audience interaction referring back to previous respective audience members.

I’d really recommend going to one of Nathan’s gigs – he is a fantastic up and coming comic.

Comedy Gold Comedy Club:

The Old Queens’ Head (21.09.11)

By Sara Shulman

If you go on the website for Comedy Gold, you’re struck by quotes that describe the club as one of the best comedy clubs in London with brilliant bills and a fantastic night out. Could this be true? Or was it a bit of an exaggeration for marketing effect…

Lucy Porter MC’d the evening and humoured the audience with pregnancy advice, her previous adolescent frolicks and gifts for the audience including fig syrup and explicit cuttings of the national tabloid press. Her compering was an absolute delight and refreshed the comic palette of the audience as they were prepared for the next act.

Tom Hayward and Danielle Ward, who opened the first and second half respectively, delivered enjoyable sets – the former concentrating more on the ludicrous nature behind so many of our daily tasks and had a great satirical undertone to his broadly ranged voice, the latter explaining very entertainingly her celebrity ranking at her secondary school as well as several anecdotes as to why she’s not a “cynical person”.

Aisling Bea gave a very entertaining set and particular kudos for the fact that it was new material. Discussing the theme of exercise and sports, the audience were seamlessly guided through fantastically well-organised material that heightened the humour in her material. Her Irish charm shone through and provided many hilarious on-the-spot asides. Aisling Bea has a very impressive fluidity in her rhythm and certainly demonstrated more than just a glimpse of some funny bones. And to finish off the set, the unexpected rendition of 2 Unlimited’s No Limit played…on a recorder…through her nose and still managed to enjoy audience participation during the chorus. A really great set – certainly one to watch!

David Armand, also known as Johann Liebowitz, was utterly brilliant! I’ve never seen anything quite like his interpretative dance. No longer can I listen to Paul Young’s Wherever I Lay My Hat, Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now or Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time without picturing the sign-language meets visual word play extravaganza that is the David Armand. How Mellow Magic has become a completely different listening experience! Words simply cannot describe how entertaining his set was… perhaps a hand-gesture would be more appropriate, definitely two thumbs up to say the least. A must see!

Pete Firman = magic + attitude. His ironic asides are just the cherry to what is really astonishingly accurate magical skill mixed in with some audience participation and a sprinkle of self-depricating comedy. Cards, books, whisks – there was no end to the surprise that occurred after each item was lifted out of Pete’s magic bag. There’s always that awkward moment when a magician asks a member of the audience for a £20 note but after the success of each of Pete’s tricks, the Comedy Gold audience member that financed Pete’s trick could put all worries aside.

And so it seems that the quotes on the website really are true. And for a highly talented, varied and hilarious bill, £7.50 does not seem excessive at all. Comedy Gold – by name and nature.

Comedy Gold Website

July/August 2011

WHO HAS THE “F” FACTOR?

The Final! 

One packed auditorium, three finalists and millions of viewers watching at home – ITV’s stand-up comedy contest was full of glitz and glamour as it broadcast live from the Hammersmith Apollo.

Tiffany’s set was full of the dry, humorously blunted and sharp observational comedy that gave her a place in tonight’s final. Her gag about a poptential date with a guy who had an iPhone 4, the description of her boyfriend as a character from Guess Who? and her observation about a group of teenage girls communicating their laughter through acronyms were all highlights of her well-organised, confident and very enjoyable stand-up routine, gaining her third place in the competition.

Dan Mitchell was more than ‘all right’ as he performed a combination of endearing stories, his fabulous and certainly unique characterisation – this week involving Timmy the dog – and Welsh charm.. His style may be slow but no less funny and it adds to his “individual voice” and “unique performance” which gave him second place.

Pat Monahan took to the stage opening with his ironic longing to have an accent and continuing to hugely entertain the audience about his Iranian mother, Irish father and family activities of going paintballing. With no audience interaction, his material really was fantastic – Pat is certainly ‘clever ‘n that’ and his comic talent sparkled brighter than the ‘Show Me The Funny’ backdrop behind him. No longer a warm-up man, as he gets ready to take the UK by storm, headlining the SMTF tour. As the bridesmaid became the bride, for the audience, the viewers, the judges, the guest-judges and anyone else who has taken an interest in the series, Pat really did show us the funny!

Mr. Monahan deserves one big pat on the back and a massive hug from all his fans!

Week 6 – Strictly Come Laughing

The semi-final of SMTF saw the five remaining contestants take on an audience full of holiday makers at the Pleasure Beach, Blackpool. Each act used a mixture of both new and more regular material to impress the audiences, the judges – this week joined by Cannon and Ball – and the viewers at home with a 10-minute set.

Ellie gave an overall strong performance however on several occasions her nerves drew her attention to her hand instead of the audience, which jolted the rhythm of her ‘Blackpool’ material. However, as soon as Ellie was on home-ground, the monologue of “Nothing –I’m fine! Go Back to sleep!’ demonstrated Ellie’s fantastic writing ability, her talent for observational comedy and her comic charm that audiences witnessed in the early weeks of the show.

With Stu contemplating how ‘dark’ his humour should go, he decided to play it safe and not reveal the true side of his ‘fetish’. Despite forgetting his material and needing to cover-up it up with a ‘Checking the time’ gag , he did perform an enjoyable set but perhaps not as risqué as the audience, the judges and Stu would have really liked?

Dan stormed his opening with some brilliant ‘four-eyed’ and epileptic taunt-inspired reminiscence. ‘Pavement raver’ and ‘Specileptic’ revealed not only some of those funny bones he’s showed us in previous weeks but it seems also the inspiration for his Twitter name as well! And let’s not forget his fantastic gag about finding a ‘really good stick’! It was a shame that his material didn’t continue to be as strong throughout his whole set, losing the audience as he explained the mysterious ancient Britain verging on Lord-of-the-Ringsesque story about “Tyrannus of Legend” – (it seems Google has no clue either?!) and the origin of the name ‘Whelk’ but his opening set was strong enough to secure him a place in the final.

Tiffany’s performance opened with her strong and punchy self-depricating material, quickly switching from observations about her dress, to promenading to why she’s a simile for fine wine. Despite slightly losing the audience on her more personal material about her childhood holidays to Great Yarmouth, her witty and well-organised material gave her a place in Thursday’s final.

Pat took to the stage demonstrating his true talent at audience interaction and quick wit. His material on the part-revolving dance floor, part–date conveyor belt showed the audience and the judges that he’s not just a warm-up man but his stand-up material is developing to be just as strong as his ability to work with the audience and heckles. A very enjoyable performance indeed, so much so he was the first contestant to gain a place in the SMTF final!

With no more edited sets, Pat Monahan, Dan Mitchell and Tiffany Stevenson await the live final at The Hammersmith Apollo to prove which one of them should win the competition. It is up to SMTF viewers to decide who they think is the funniest…

Week 5 – A Comedy Gig in Pontypridd

It was an interesting week for SMTF contestants as they gigged to the rugby lads of Ponty Pridd. With the show full of many unexpected occurrences, week 5 seemed to be the toughest gig yet for the majority of the remaining comics.

What was Alfie’s strongest performance in the previous week seemed to articulate the laws of gravity as his performance rollercoasted from top form to 5 minutes of awkard and anxious humour. It was a tough spot going first, especially considering the genre of audience, but this gig put the spotlight on the more inexpeirenced side of Alfie’s part-time comic part-time cop career.

Stu experienced a phenomenal recovery and showed his best performance yet. A confident, energetic and highly enjoyable performer won over his audience, taking charge of the crowd and navigated any heckles into positive material and an ‘excellent’ gig.

Tiffany gave a very strong performance again, with the audience really seeming to warm to her style in the 10-minute set she opted for. Her material has shown very strong observational sparkles and her charismatic and most importantly comfortable presence on stage secured her place in next week’s show.

It seemed as though Pat was rather anxious about this week’s performance, perhaps owing to the pressure from the judges to prove he wasn’t just a warm-up man. Also taking the 10-minute set, Pat bounded on to the stage, full of the high-energy charisma we’ve witnessed throughout the series and ‘stormed it’ once again with his mixture of prepared material and highly humorous heckle-instigated responses. And when judges and fellow contestants criticized Pat for a lack of material, how encouraging it was to see his material plan… and we didn’t even hear all of it!

Ellie’s anxiety that she would leave this week didn’t become a reality although it did seem to be a weaker performance than her previous gigs. Despite this, the talent of her writing skill and her potential did still shine through (even if the rays weren’t as bright as they could have been!)

What could have been Dan’s most comfortable and easiest gig was met with a shock for the judges, the audience, and it seemed Dan himself! It seemed that he was relying on a nostalgic, patriotic declamatory themed material, which became overly aggressive and the ‘11-year-old sweater-vest’ Dan sported according to one heckler seemed to bring out that side of him as his response to the crowd replicated somewhat playground taunts.

Whilst Stu and Pat were praised for their performance Dan and Alfie experienced the judges’ concerns, joined by those of guest-judge Johnny Vegas – leaving the two and only female comics in the competition in the safe seats for this week. It was tough to decide which of ’the two guys that have the tickle’ according to Kate Copstick should be sent home but a gut instinct prevailed and Alfie was sent home.

A double-bill special awaits but all the comics will have to ‘pull their boots up’, not just Dan, if they are to make it to the final and win the public vote!

Week 4 – The Comics’ Ward

The competition heated up this week as the comedians took on the challenge of humouring Watford General Hospital staff and patients, hoping that they wouldn’t find themselves in the SMTF emergency room.

With the task of creating the most entertaining hospital radio show, Stu and Rudi seemed to impress Watford General the most and chose the running order. To be strategic or not to be strategic – that was the question that caused a significant amount of friction as the other comics waited to do the gig. After a coin toss, Rudi’s plan of making the running order compatible with the competitive nature of the show, rather than a standard comedy night saw some controversial placements – especially juxtaposing Tiffany and Ellie in a girl-on-girl comic stand-off?!

It was a shame to see Stu struggle opening the gig, especially after how entertaining he’s been in previous weeks but it is still a puzzle as to why he would agree to go first when he chose the running order?

Rudi’s strategic plans may have worked in theory, but in reality it turned out to be marginally funny material and it seemed to verge on didactic oratory. As valid as his points were, it’s debatable as to whether it was suitable for a stand-up gig..?

Pat shone again this week and he seems even more comfortable and at ease with his audience and his material, which although it explored the realm of “the personal”, it is getting stronger by the week.

The judges may have thought that Tiffany had been slipping in previous weeks, but her well-organised and well-observed material sparkled with two applause breaks. “Stormed it. Stormed it. Definitely number one” – her material has certainly put the pressure on the rest of the competitiors.

Ellie’s set started off very promising, she does have a talent for observation and writing, however it was disappointing to see her struggle in the middle of the set and forget her material.

Dan’s charismatic accent and endearing stories worked very well this week and contributed towards a very enjoyable performance again.

Alfie closed the gig, and although his material wasn’t necessarily about the hospital, it was no cop-out as he gave his “strongest set so far”. After this performance, perhaps he will have to tackle the streets of comedy…

With Alfie singled out for praise and Ellie, Stu and Rudi facing the judges’ surgery, it was Rudi that didn’t quite make the cut. As the competition draws nearer to the final, SMTF has become even tougher as glimpses of how talented many of the comics are have begun to show…

Week 3 – Class Clowns

An audience of 12-14 year olds is probably one of the most unlikely demographics a comedian would face at a regular comedy gig but for Show Me The Funny competitors, there was no escape from the unexpected.

An Olympic-esque sports class, a detective mystery and attempts to make history “hipper” were no match for Cole and Stuart’s vegetable-puppet making extravaganza, which saw them impress the kids so much that they chose this week’s line-up.

SMTF has started getting rather tactical it seems- placing Ellie first because of 2 consecutive successful performances. At first it seemed Ellie was buckling to the “first-up” nerves but she did crescendo to the sound of laughs later on in her set. A well-deserved round of applause for Alfie who managed to sneek in a political joke and “seal” the deal on his place in next week’s show. Stuart gave an endearingly engaging performance for the third week running and really seemed to get some strong laughs from the kids – an impressive performer.

But Mr. Dan-the-man had bundles of confidence on stage, enough to call one of the young audience members ‘a spiteful cow’, perhaps observational comedy at its utmost? Such a disappointing week for Rudi, whose lifeless material directed him to the subject of him “dying” on stage and just generally caused a lot of awkwardness for everyone watching, so unnecessary when the only person that seemed to think he was “dying” was Rudi.

Although Tiffany’s jokes might not have received the laughter she had hoped for, her non-patronising, fluid and articulate performance demonstrated potential that hasn’t been as evident in previous weeks.

Pat Monahan soared to success this week as he had a whale of a time spraying water at his audience members. A mixture of silly slap-stick but surprisingly hilarious material as well as really personal observational jokes that all led to his standing ovation as he left the stage. This performance was just a glimpse of the charisma and comic charm Pat has and showed his potential to do very well in the rest of the competition.

It was a shame that after Cole’s hard attempts to show the judges that he was “Mr. Likeability”, he didn’t pass the test and the one-coloured chameleon had to leave the competition.

With only three weeks until the live final, and Alan Davies suggesting that performances are going backwards, the comics must all up their game and show SMTF viewers how funny they really are…

Week 2 – A Battle of Laughs

If ever SMTF show producers wanted to find a location that could metaphorically convey how tough stand-up really is – the producers couldn’t have done much better than sending the comics to Europe’s biggest military base where they trained for battle…

But after experiencing a typical day for a soldier at Catterick Army Base there was no camouflage for a bad joke as the comedians had to stand-up and take to the frontline of their comedic batttlefield.

Not quite sure what the whole “Maria” material was in Prince’s routine, but it seems that nobody else did either… Ellie was very entertaining for the second week running – very impressive for the only comic in the competition to have never been paid for a gig.

Dan certainly raised his game and showed his true talent for his Welsh way with words. Rudi certainly did “storm it”… at the beginning – but it was slightly disappointing to see that he had to rely on his older material in order to guarantee that he got through to the next round.

Although Dan and Rudi were singled out for praise this week, it wasn’t all praise as each was given constructive criticism on how to improve. As for Cole and Prince, the judges picked well in their bottom 2 and Kate Copstick’s advice to Prince that “a bit of crap is still too much crap in 5 minutes!” could possibly be one of the best quotes of the series so far.

It may have been goodbye to Prince but the crown of comedy is still for the taking…

Week 1 – The “F” Factor

Stand-up comedy vs. “The X Factor” has reached our television screens in the form of “Show Me The Funny“.  Hosted by Jason Manford the show sees 10 comics (8 male, 2 female) battle it out every week in the form of a 5-minute set of new material to a challenging audience. Alan Davies and Kate Copstick judge the comedians joined by some of “the biggest names in comedy” – the first special guest-judge saw Jimmy Tarbuck take on the role. And the prize? A nation-wide tour, a DVD out before Christmas and £100,000 – certainly worth the heckles!

The contestants are:

Alfie Moore         Patrick Monahan

Cole Parker         Prince Abdi

Dan Mitchell      Rudi Lickwood

Ellie Taylor         Stuart Goldsmith

Ignacio Lopez    Tiffany Stevenson

Week 1 saw the SMTF comics tour the city of Liverpool with tasks to complete in order to inspire their material for the upcoming gig. The chosen audience this week: the “hard to crack” women of Liverpool.

Ellie and Tiffany won the challenge and subsequently chose the running order. Placing themselves third and fourth respectively it certainly saved them the potentially awkward verging on car crash silence, enough to put people off a career on comedy all together, let alone a nationally-broadcast stand-up competition.

Ellie Taylor certainly surprised the audience and judges with what could have been a nervy, “rabbit caught in the headlights”esque performance – she seemed to even surprise herself with her success in her first gig on the show… especially being the most inexperienced in “comedy years” as she says, in comparison to the other competitiors! With the other contestants back stage exclaiming “Look at this?!” “She’s putting experienced comics to shame here – this is brilliant” and “She’s really nailed it”, Ellie may have put some of the other comedians to shame, but, more importantly, she certainly put the stereotypical “women aren’t funny” mentality to shame. Some may say an all female audience was the reason for her success – but with 2/3 of the judging panel being male, it’s got to be something a little stronger than girl power?!

“Confident and likeable” was Jimmy Tarbuck’s reaction to Stuart Goldsmith - he definitely came accross as a confident, experienced and an assured comic.

But Pat Monahan, the “Irish-Iranian comedian from Teeside” was charismatically engaging throughout the tasks, and indeed the whole episode, and his spontaneous-hug addiction made him even more entertaining to watch! And his stand-up routine? Not enough of it broadcast to show his truly fluid rhythmic charm but of what SMTF viewers saw, it was an exciting and energetic set and more spontaneous than the other contestants – kudos for a comedian confident enough to pick-up and play with a Scouse-woman’s sunglasses! Rumour has it he’ll give a free Monahan hug to anyone who supports him in the show… Certainly one to watch!

Ellie and Stuart were praised for a well-prepared gig but as for Ignacio and Prince, their performance was described as “a catastrophe”. “The Great Lover” Ignacio was sent home as Prince was kept on for being seen as the one who is “able to grow” according to Kate Copstick.

SMTF Week 1 was a very entertaining start to the series with promising performances from many of the comics. But who will be crowned King/Queen of Funny? Indeed, who has the “F” factor..?

June 2011

WAITING LIKE A MAN

An unusually true story

Written & Performed by Daniel Benoliel

Directed by Tom Cornford

A white chair, a white chest and one man for one hour… Daniel Benoliel enters in a black and white suit, charmingly colour-co-ordinated with his furniture and back-drop and begins to tell the story of his grandfather’s murder – don’t worry, it did get better. Benoliel engages his audience as he guides them through a narrative of his family history including his fascination with James Bond, how he became involved in pharmaceutical consultancy and why he went through a faze of describing music as ‘just a load of noise’.

The plot unfolds somewhat unexpectedly in which the audience often finds themselves directly addressed in one of Benoliel’s sarcastic asides, not least because of the cosy and intimate theatre size, which gave the audience a further sense of involvement in Benoliel’s journey to manhood.

What seems at first quite a sparse choice of furniture, the use is quite the opposite. From a chest, to a computer, to a projector screen and even a bed, each prop is seamlessly interchanged from one to the next.

A one-man show by description but a story-line full of different characters, allowing Benoliel another opportunity to entertain his audience with humorous, articulate and highly effective accents that often caused audience members to roar with laughter.

The use of the projector was particularly creative, displaying Google searches, family records and his very entertaining video diary at The National Archives. Describing everyone who went to the archives as if they were ‘presenters on Who Do You Think You Are?’, his commentary and descriptions continued to be filled with all too true associations to public life and ‘reality’.

The lighting-design was the cherry to the performance, especially in the scene of Benoliel as ‘Time Detective’ with flashing red, blue, and yellow lights, comically hyperbolising his character’s investigative nature.

‘Waiting Like A Man’ was a brilliantly entertaining, witty and creative one-man comedy show – don’t wait to see this performance! Not to be missed!

VENUE: Old Red Lion Theatre, 418 St John Street, London, EC1V 4NJ (nearest underground Angel)

DATES: 28th June – 16th July 2011

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