Saturday, July 04, 2009

 

This advert is ... unsettling

I'm not sure what this advert is trying to say - although, being it is for Tango, I'll probably never know for sure. Any suggestions?

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Wednesday, September 03, 2008

 

Corn Exchange Comedy Store

As part of the entertainment for the conference party, a bunch of comedians were laid on. This year it was Jon Richardson (MC), Jeff Green, Andy Parsons and Michael McIntyre. Sorry for the crap photos but I had neglected to charge up the batteries in the proper camera and had to rely on the one in the phone. I expect you can work out how old the phone must be if this is the quality of the pictures.




Jon Richardson seemed familiar - or at least his voice did - but I can't place where I've seen him and I'm sure I've heard some of his act before.

Jeff Green I've enjoyed before at the Hexagon (a charity event) and on DVD. Probably best known for his "Feck it, I'm on holiday" sketch.

Everybody must know Andy Parsons from "Mock the Week". I love the way he struts round the stage when he's on a roll.

Reasonably new to me was Michael McIntyre who I'd only seen previously as a guest on "Mock the Week" where he doesn't really get much time to shine. Sue can't stand him but I'm willing to give him a go. Highlight was when he was booed for mentioning Google in one of his sketches. This was obviously part of the normal routine and it took him a little while to realise that Microsoft staff may not be too receptive to such details. Sometimes it takes events like this to let you know that, actually, most people don't give a monkey's which search engine is the best or even that there are alternatives. Good that he stood up for himself - must have already been paid.

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Sunday, July 06, 2008

 

GuilFest 08 - Comedy Tent

Ian CanterburyPierre Hollins

Michael Fabbri

Paul F Taylor

Robin Ince

Colin Cole


Paul Kerensa

This is a photo off Paul's website as I ... err... forgot to take a photo.
I must have been laughing too loud. That's it.

 

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Thursday, May 08, 2008

 

Braniac Live


If you like the TV show then you are obviously going to be curious about what parts can be transported to the stage in a theatre. The obvious answer is not a huge amount but you have to give them credit for trying. Space and time are limited so anything large or which requires a while to complete is out. Also risk to the public must be almost zero so no explodimng caravans. OK, so they started the show by blowing up a caravan but it wasn't a real caravan being destroyed with anything dangerous.

Fundamentally, unlike the heavy-science and adult-oriented TV show (need I mention Professor Myung Li?), the Live performance is aimed at kids. Parents are there to either keep the children in line or be victims to the messier experiments. Take the debunking of the "tapping a dropped fizzy bottle settles the bubbles" myth (boy, there are some stupid people in the world) where a grown-up in a protective suit had to share a shower cubicle with a coke can shaken up by most of the audience. Which contrasts with the tomato ketchup experiment where children poured red liquid over the heads of Brainiacs.

This isn't to say I didn't find it fun but expectations were high because of the TV show's ability to destroy the big stuff - and I do appreciate destruction on a large scale.

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Friday, April 11, 2008

 

Andy Parsons

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Friday, April 04, 2008

 

Lucy Porter

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

 

Frankie Boyle



After watching Frankie on "Mock The Week", we did expect a pretty harsh performance and were a little surprised by what we did see. Basically he was enjoying himself on tour and seemed to be having trouble with the sort of comments we were used to. It was still a very funny show and I would definitely see him again. To anybody else put off by his on-screen persona, I say "don't be".

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Friday, October 12, 2007

 

Jimmy Carr

Saw Mr Carr at the Hexagon tonight. Sell out event with me getting the very last ticket. Well, it was the last at the time I called. Maybe they had some returned tickets afterwards. Who knows or cares?
Jimmy Carr is very good. His delivery is very clear and professional, he can handle heckling very well, and he is happy to spend as along as it takes afterwards talking to people and signing autographs. His humour may not be to everybody's tastes but that should not be confused with a lack of quality.
Reminded me a lot of last night's Milton Jones at 21 South Street (1/10 the size of the Hexagon) where Milton has a VERY long series of one liners with twists in the tail to throw you and get the laugh. Jimmy added to this style with more interaction with the audience (moral dillemas, such as "should you swallow or spit?"), more sexual references and less of the weirdness.
A few of the more memorable (and safe to post):
"Venison's dear, isn't it?"
"Woman went to the doctors and was told she was morbidly obese. As if she didn't have enough on her plate..."
"What's black, white and red all over? A race riot"

Was it worth £20 (twice the price of Milton)? Probably.

I did join the queue afterwards to get my ticket signed - too tight to pay for a programme. Decided to chat to him and prepared a little sequence about the woman two rows in front of me. She had worn leopard print shoes and rested them on the balcony rail for all to see. During the performance Jimmy ranted against the chaviness of wearing leopard print clothes and I told him how disappointed I was that I couldn't see her face at the time. She didn't put her shoes up after that for some reason. I nearly fluffed my lines, trying to say lemon instead of leopard and I felt a bit embarrased about it but at least I was brave enough to try.

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Thursday, October 11, 2007

 

Milton Jones - bloody funny.

21 South Street was sold out tonight as Milton came to town with his deadpan delivery. We love him - just so funny all the time. The quickfire punchlines catch you all the time.

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Friday, July 20, 2007

 

Something Blue and Russell Howard

Sounds like a comedy stand-up with lots of swearing, doesn't it? Actually "Something Blue" was the first half of the show - five women performing a series of funny and/or sad theatrical pieces - followed by Russell Howard, the young blond off "Mock the week" in traditional comedian role.

Around The Fringes put on two independent turns who were warming up for their Edinburgh runs. Or Edingburgh as reported by the venue's website. {Sigh}.

Jammy Voo Theatre isn't something I would normally go out of my way to see - usually I would bump into this sort of comic cabaret at a festival or here at 21 South Street because it was on with something else.
The content, though - a mix of clowning, puppetry, absurd characters, physical theatre and songs to explore love - was very good and well put together.
There was a lot aimed at laughs but some of it is quite sad and thoughtful. For example, one piece was of a woman grown old with long white hair to the floor walking across the stage; by kneeling down with her back to us, her hair became the sea and two puppets told of her younger life being courted by her boyfriend on the beach who was soon lost to a watery death; and so she mourned his passing for the rest of her life.
Which contrasted with a wife at the breakfast table making herself more like the pictures in the glossy magazines to try and (fail to) get more attention from her husband. Being at the breakfast table, the only items to hand were marmite and chocolate spread for a fake tan, ketchup for lipstick and toothpaste for eyeliner.
Being a cast of women, they wisely used a disguise to represent male characters although I think a wolf's head was putting us a rather worse light than we needed.
If you are in Edinburgh then I recommend you check them out.

Russell Howard looks like a blond member of a boy band and not someone you expect to be standing behind a mike relating amusing anecdotes and observations. But we had seen him regularly on "Mock The Week" so Sue decided that we should see him live.
His act was good with some funny content but I found it so full of positive energy and life that it sometimes felt I was being preached at. Maybe I'm just too unhealthily cynical for such outpourings of youthful enthusiasm.


He was worried the photo from Sue's speed camera would have him looking a bit Hitleresque with his right arm raised but he seems to have got away with it.

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Saturday, July 14, 2007

 

GuilFest 07 - Another successful GuilFest (Number 4 for me)

Today was a lovely day out - the weather stayed fine and the temperature didn't get too cold by 11pm.
Nobody nearly collapsed from sunstroke this year although somebody did get sunburnt - it's surprising how effective a constant breeze can be at dehydrating the skin. It's like the sun and the wind conspire - the former hides behind clouds from time to time so you don't notice it while the latter makes sure you have no moisture left to protect your skin.
My schedule was to live in the Comedy Tent for the afternoon and then pass the time somehow in the evening - the music line-up didn't really appeal (none of the acts from my childhood/teenage like Blondie or The Stranglers this year) but there are dozens of bands on spread amongst the many tents/stages.
The Comedy Tent this year was in a different position and open on one side - in the past it had been open on three sides which allowed for a nice through-draft to keep the air moving. This time, though, it felt pretty warm and the acts sweated more than was expected from facing a GuilFest audience.
I had a bit of a shock when I say the MC, John Mann - he looked just like Martin Davis (MC from previous GuilFests). Well, a Martin Davis that has REALLY let themselves go in a Keith Richards sort of way, anyway.
First act up was Stan Stanley with quite a short set. Seemed a bit nervous but managed OK - the afternoon audience at GuilFest is quite different from a normal gig. For starters there is no under-18 bar. There was supposedly a ban on swearing but the f**king Aussie later on couldn't get the concept.

Pete Firman is a magician that does comedy. In his act he managed to demonstrate a few simple tricks, such as the vanishing handkerchief. Most people believe this to be done with a false thumb but Pete went on to show that the trick is actually much more complicated than that - in fact it is all done with a handkerchief snatcher. A line from the handkerchief runs under the jacket and trousers (which Pete helpfully removed) to bands round the knees; a simple exercise of the legs extracts the handkerchief from view. Tada!

The advantage of being a magician - as I've reported from previous GuilFests - is that you get to invite lovely women from the audience to assist. In this case, helping the magician stab himself with needles a la Geek (circus geek, not techy geek).

 

Finishing off the first half was Roger Monkhouse, a very likable comedian, telling jokes about being a white middle-class parent of a teenage child -  easy overlap with a lot of the audience. His conversational style was that of a slightly baffled man, not necessarily unhappy with the world but learning how to get on with life's changes. Would definitely want to see his act again.
After a break we were back for more comedy, starting with Daniel Townes, a young and cocky Australian. Highlight was the story of his deportation from America after landing at LAX en route to Canada. Not sure why he was deported but his encounter with immigration was amusing, if a little unbelievable.

The music today was supplied by punk musician, Paul B Edwards. You might have heard his hit single "I Predict A Fry-Up" under the name of the Kaiser Chef.Paul B. Edwards:


Has more of an Internet presence than most comedians - I assume most don't have the time or inclination to run a website, or even a MySpace site.

http://lastminutecomedy.com/

MySpace URL 


Headlining was Junior Simpson, the only act I knew to be almost famous. He was quietly confident, relying on years of practice, and had a good range of comedy to rely on, pulling from repertoires aimed at general audiences as well as the brothers.
What I enjoy about black (and Asian) comedians is the insight they bring into their family lives and how similar and different they can be to mine.
For example, Junior related how in the past they would call the family to the TV whenever a black actor was to be seen, hopefully in time before the character was dragged off to the cells.
Or how he thought that being able to beat your child (punishing, not abusing) was something that was lacking from modern life. TV programmes with mothers being hit by their 4-year old children and asking what they could do just seemed bizarre to him. Being only a year apart in age, I can understand where he is coming from  :-)

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Sunday, June 24, 2007

 

Starslip Crisis

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Friday, March 02, 2007

 

Punt and Dennis at 21 South Street

I really enjoy comedy at 21 South Street.

  1. It is cheap
  2. It is local
  3. You can ALWAYS get seats at the front, even when the gig is sold out (like tonight). Comedy gigs always fill up from the back...

Tonight Punt and Dennis were here for a warm-up gig, something which I enjoyed more than, say, a mid-tour polished performance. They weren't finished yet - some jokes were being tested for acceptability and the running order was still on a clipboard rather than in their heads. All this and the banter between them when things didn't go as planned really made the pair appear more human.

Spoiler warning

If you plan to see any of their 32-date "Stuff and Nonsense" tour then don't read the rest as it will spoil the surprise.

Here are my favourite (or at least memorable) bits of the concert (in no particular order):

  1. In a sketch about the health service, MRSA was how the middle class pronounce pop star Morrisey. Didn't necessarily work for everybody so I don't know if it will make the final cut. The photo below was part of a Florence Nightingale sketch but I think it would make a good "Caption Contest":
  2. Brand names - why do people pay extra for brand name medicines when the supermarket versions, containing exactly the same molecules, are far cheaper? But then, they aren't experts on drugs like Pete Docherty. On the subject of supermarkets, apparently Tescos now do mortgages - Punt only found out when he received one as an alternative to an avocado in his Internet delivery.
  3. Immigration and passports had a large chunk of time. Punt and Dennis proposed (and demonstrated) how much easier it would be if passports were musical and identified your country of origin when you opened them.
  4. Bird flu - Bill Gates is happy as at last there is a virus that Windows couldn't catch (strangely everybody but me laughed at that one). H5N1 - the only virus with its own post code. Dennis reported how the RSPB spokesmen's comments about the whooper swan that was found dead in Fife last year were censored by the BBC. The explanation that the infected bird, flying from Germany, must have "felt crap" and landed was changed to "felt grotty" instead.
  5. Sir Walter Raleigh - the person who has killed more people that anyone else in history through bringing tobacco and potatoes to Europe.
  6. The veloceraptor walk - always a winner.
  7. Biggest cheer was during the "history of broadcasting" when Dennis reached the 1990s - the notorious "Milky Milky" period.
  8. Below is the winter Olympics impression of landing from the ski jump:

  9. The queen has had 160 birthdays - no, the pedant inside me cried, she hasn't as the official birthday didn't kick in until after she was crowned.
  10. Because the stage is so small, they couldn't just march off-stage in darkness when the lights went off between sketches for fear of crashing into the tables and chairs.

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Sunday, February 11, 2007

 

The Big Big Comedy Bash

Review to follow

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Friday, December 22, 2006

 

Mitch Benn

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Sunday, October 15, 2006

 

Harry Hill On Tour

This was my first chance to see Harry Hill live and it was free (connections, you see). Not paying was good as I'm not sure I'd have wanted to spend the tenner that the punters had to pay. And, to make things worse, all the pumps in the bar had no gas so only bottled beers were on offer at pint prices. If I'd paid to get in AND had to pay through the nose for beer I'd have been really pissed off.

Anyway Harry Hill live, what is it? Sort of a mix between weird stand-up and a covers band more used to doing weddings. Some of the humour is very clever and spot on, the rest is just bizarre stuff that I don't understand (see League of Gentleman, Shooting Stars, et al).

Harry did make an inspired effort to inject some local flavour with a blending of Blur's "Parklife" and the Student Union's "Spark" newspaper where he read out frontpage news of the planned closing of the Physics department in the style of Phil Daniels. You think, "well, that's an obvious thing to do" but you know you wouldn't have thought of doing it in a million years.

Unlike the woman in the badger costume.

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Saturday, March 25, 2006

 

Kev F Draws The Crowds



Just returned from "Kev F Draws The Crowds" at Bracknell's South Hill Park. I had decided to take the family along because I knew of Kev Sutherland from his time organising the Bristol Comics Fairs. I wanted to see what he was like outside the stressful organiser role and also off the Internet (as no-one is really like their on-line persona).


The overall feel was of a sharing platter at a restaurant where they put in something from all the other starters - each tasty in their own way but not always perfect partners and never enough! 

So you have Kev on stage telling us some stories, then armed with a flip chart and marker pen showing us how easy it is to draw cartoons, and not forgetting his metamorphosis into the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre performing King Lear in five minutes.

His stand-up today was modified to take into account the fact that half the 40 people in the audience were Beano target audience age. That's fine - I don't see much of a need for swearing in comedy anyway - there aren't too many classic punch lines with "Feck" in them, for example. He was definitely good with the kids and it was amusing to hear the suggestions they come out with. Their focus is very much on self or school and it was interesting to see how they were thinking.


At the end, Kev delivers on the show's titles and drew a caricature of everybody that turned up. I think Samantha's is spot on - the slightly sleepy eyelids give her face a relaxed look and the lips are the right size. Kev has Sue's eyes done really well with a sort of focused stare. I'm not too sure about mine as I can't see anything that jumps out as "me" but then I don't get to see my face as much as Sue's and Samantha's.

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Sunday, July 17, 2005

 

GuilFest 05 Comedy Tent

Bit of a change to the published line-up so no Pierre Hollins (a pity as he was brilliant last year); also started late, finished early and removed the hour interval so 6 comedians instead of 7.



Martin Davis (MC)

"Groan", I thought. "Not you again". Luckily we also had Alfie from last year (sans green mohican), the kid who wanted to be a policeman so he could have a license to kill. Can't wait to see what Alfie comes out with next year, although it does mean I'll have to sit through Martin Davis to find out.

 

Christian Reilly

Christian wasn't bad at all although his Wookie impression for his Star Wars musical needs a lot of work. Of course, it is hard to be good when the benchmark is Phill Jupitus but Christian's Tommy-Cooper-with-a-cough just didn't cut it for me.

His "Batman" theme tune was a lot better.

 

 

Jovanka Steele

Californian comedian who was here last year although I didn't see her then. I'm sure I've heard her act before, though, as some of it sounded familiar - or maybe they are easy targets like how to pronounce Leicester Square. I did enjoy the idea of French people covering their ears and admitting they could speak English rather than listen to her taught-by-a-Texan French accent.

Nick Revell

The trouble with writing these things up later on is that you forget what some people did.

Tim Clarke (MC)

So ugly and not particularly funny that I didn't bother taking a photo of him. Pretty useless as an MC too. Have a stock photo.

 

Dougie Dunlop

If you closed your eyes, you could think you were listening to Billy Connolly. Thankfully, the similarity ended there as Dougie did not spend half the time laughing at his own jokes.

 

 

Danny Butler

One of the obvious benefits of being a magician is that you can, without much fear of refusal, pick drop-dead gorgeous girls out of the audience and have them stare into your eyes. What a bastard. And his tricks were naff. Mutter, mutter...

Seriously, though, he was quite funny although if I had chosen to see a magician I would have liked some more interesting tricks - the rope that you cut and reconnect is a bit old hat (even I know that one). 

Jack Cowley

I had mixed feelings about his performance.

Highlight - after a bit of a rant by Jack about terrorism, somebody way at the back queried if Jack knew the relevance of the guy on the comedian's T-shirt and what he had done. After some verbal sparring, the heckler walked off. Jack then had a spark of madness and said "shall we go and follow him?" Needless to say, half the tent got up and followed Jack out of the tent in hot pursuit (to no avail).

Apparantly, if Jack was a suicide bomber he wouldn't want 72 virgins - who wants 6 dozen innocent women who don't know what to do? No, Jack would much prefer to trade them in for one good old slut who could show him exactly what to do.

I must be getting old as I was slightly surprised by the number of people in the audience who wanted to take advantage of the offer of a joint. Jack found a volunteer to roll one up from Jack's supplies and pass it round. Political protest? Maybe. Comedy? Not really.

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