Edinburgh Comedy Awards Winners and Nominees 2018
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!
Read the full series review of Show Me The Funny TV & more at comedyblogedy.com/reviews
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