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The new "What Stand Up Have You Seen Lately?" thread

Started by Small Man Big Horse, July 16, 2016, 08:16:30 PM

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Small Man Big Horse

Because I couldn't find the old one. Sure it's around here somewhere, but I couldn't find the bastard. Anyway, I went to an afternoon of Edinburgh previews (plus Nick Helm fucking about) this afternoon and here are my brief and poorly written reviews.

Sam Simmons - I like Simmons a lot, he's very prop based but there's a lot of great jokes in the set as well, but my big issue was the amount of times he became annoyed with the audience for not laughing enough, especially concerning one joke about karma which was really weak, and became unfunnier each time he repeated it. I chatted to him briefly and he did admit he does this on purpose to keep the audience on edge, but I don't know, it just annoyed me a bit and spoilt an otherwise very funny show.

Goose - A one man sketch show, it was kind of okay, and had it's moments, but the delivery was often too rushed and too manic, especially as he was finished within 45 minutes. There's potential without a doubt, but he was the weakest act of the day for me.

Sarah Kendall - Superb Australian comedian whose show was mostly one long story about a lie she made up as a teen, it's not as densely packed with laughter as someone like Simmons but it's equally as funny, and she's a great storyteller. Someone I'd not known much about before now, but I'd happily pay £15 to see her do a solo show at somewhere like the Soho Theatre now.

Nick Helm - Not doing an Edinburgh preview as he's about to film another series of Uncle, but he was testing out some new material along with doing older stuff. No musical moments though, which surprised, but he was pretty damn great throughout. There's a brief section which is all one liners which is a little weak, but all of the rest of it made me laugh a lot.

DrGreggles

Ed Gamble and Gareth Richards are doing Edinburgh previews in a pub down the road from me on Tuesday.
Got to be worth a fiver.

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on July 16, 2016, 08:16:30 PM
Sam Simmons - I like Simmons a lot, he's very prop based but there's a lot of great jokes in the set as well, but my big issue was the amount of times he became annoyed with the audience for not laughing enough, especially concerning one joke about karma which was really weak, and became unfunnier each time he repeated it. I chatted to him briefly and he did admit he does this on purpose to keep the audience on edge, but I don't know, it just annoyed me a bit and spoilt an otherwise very funny show.

yeah, I saw him a few months back and he did this. Killed any momentum for an audience that were enjoying it, the show really petered out.

The yelling at the audience for being weirded out/not laughing seems just part and parcel of his act at this point. He plays it up a bit, but I think when the audience goes get confused it throws him a bit something I wish he'd work through but it doesn't seem like it'd change at this point.

CaledonianGonzo

Sam's been doing that for years - as mentioned, it's very much part of his shtick.

It's definitely resulted in some of the funniest moments of the (several) shows of his I've seen.

Small Man Big Horse

Eh, I dunno, it's just not for me then I guess, I mean it worked in places but he did it so much it really became irritating after a while, especially as I find the rest of his material really funny when it's not disrupted.

The Masked Unit

Went to the Comedy Cellar back in may and saw Ryan Reis, Emma Willman, Greg Rowell, Will Sylvince and Rory Albanese. Fucking ace it was. Presumably Noodle Lizard will be along shortly to upstage that ;)

CaledonianGonzo

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on July 17, 2016, 06:34:26 PM
Eh, I dunno, it's just not for me then I guess, I mean it worked in places but he did it so much it really became irritating after a while, especially as I find the rest of his material really funny when it's not disrupted.

Earlier on his UK career when he tended to split the room a lot more it definitely sometimes brought a bit of unexpected edge to the proceedings.

In Edinburgh now he's more of a popular known quantity, so his reception is usually more uniform / positive and so I dunno if it adds much any more - but it's certainly something I can see him falling back on if he's doing less well or playing for people who don't know him.

Anyway, will be seeing him myself in a couple of weeks, so will be sure to chime back in with my no-doubt incisive thoughts on his new hour in the Fringe thread.

Sal Vicuso

Saw Tom Stade at the York Comedy Festival this past weekend, Canadian stand-up living in UK, I'd never heard of him but a friend recommended him so we went along, £17 a ticket. Absolutely fucking awful, he really, really stank it up. There was 14 of us on a stag and we left after 20 minutes. Dull, hacky and fucking unfunny routine about various tv shows like Cash in the attic and Storage Wars. He was filming a dvd apparently, and actually had a couple of hecklers ejected, rather than just dealing with them himself, and they were leaving same time as us and another table, so must have been a good 20 people left at the same time, wonder what that did to his flow.

Like I say, I'd never seen any of his stuff but it was so uninspired and flat, maybe he was having an off-night but if he was filming it you'd think he'd have had his best material ready. Can't believe someone thought he was worth £17 a ticket

WestHill

Elliott Steel - saw him on a mixed bill with Pete Firman, Rhys James and Kevin Eldon and he stole the show. A young guy with an old soul and a lot of well-honed material about drink and drugs which avoids being hacky. I imagine he'll go far.

Kieran Hodgson - Maestro - really enjoyed Lance and this follow-up didn't disappoint. A bit more personal than the last one and was really blown away with the quality of writing. Pulls out all the stops performance-wise (without giving anything away). Will happily see this again.

Joe Lycett - love his warm, conversational style. Talks openly about his career and personal life without failing to pack in big laughs. Only saw a 30 min set but would def spend an hour in his company.

Jamali Maddix - stormed the Manchester Comedy Store when I was up there - relaxed, confident style a la Chappelle with loads of original takes on things - seeing his preview on Saturday.

Also seeing Carl Donnelly, Sarah Kendall, Alfie Brown and James Acaster over the next week. Can't wait.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: WestHill on July 19, 2016, 07:28:10 AM
Jamali Maddix - stormed the Manchester Comedy Store when I was up there - relaxed, confident style a la Chappelle with loads of original takes on things - seeing his preview on Saturday.

I really like Jamali and I'm so glad he's doing well for himself, we did a few gigs together a few years ago on the open mic circuit and he was a really really nice guy. Used to have a great line about how he'd react if someone burnt the koran in front of him, but I don't know if he's still doing that.

DrGreggles

Quote from: DrGreggles on July 16, 2016, 08:42:10 PM
Ed Gamble and Gareth Richards are doing Edinburgh previews in a pub down the road from me on Tuesday.
Got to be worth a fiver.

Gamble's show is about 80% very good indeed. If he sorts the rest it out it could be a stand-out of the Fringe.

Richards' show is finished and pretty strong too. A couple of slow bits, but it all pays off.

Mr Banlon

I saw Rich Hall at the Harrow Arts Centre in May. He was fucking excellent. Seen him a few times. Always new material.
Went to a live recording of the new Count Arthur Strong series at Pinewood a couple of weeks back. The warm-up guy was pretty good. Fucked if I can remember the fellas name though. Very much like Adam Hess. There was more of the warm-up guy than the actual recording. 

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: DrGreggles on July 19, 2016, 10:54:58 PM
Gamble's show is about 80% very good indeed. If he sorts the rest it out it could be a stand-out of the Fringe.

Richards' show is finished and pretty strong too. A couple of slow bits, but it all pays off.

Glad you enjoyed it, I've only seen Gamble do a 20 minute slot but want to see him do a full length show. I've also seen Richards, at the Edinburgh festival back in 2009 and he didn't really do it for me. But then as it was seven years ago I really should give him another shot.

CaledonianGonzo

I saw Sara Pascoe's tour show Animal about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and found it a bit disappointing. I thought she'd be basing the show around her new book, but it was more of a grab bag of bits and bobs tied together at the end with a fairly insubstantial framing device.

My first time seeing her and, well, my hopes were a bit higher.

WestHill

Sarah Kendall preview - really enjoyed this - saw her in 2013 and whilst it was good, I wasn't particularly fussed - but it feels like she's really developed since then - she's obviously a very accomplished standup and has reached the level where she can weave darkness and personal turmoil into her material and play with the form without preventing it from being *proper funny* - the show takes the form of a layered narrative which plays with your expectations and comments on the nature of storytelling - thought I'd predicted a twist but got it completely wrong - a brilliant hour which had me beaming throughout - would definitely recommend for Edinburgh

CaledonianGonzo

Yeah - will be seeing her in Edinburgh.  She's definitely moved away from straight stand up and into 'comic storytelling' territory over the last couple of years, but she's very, very good at it.

I was just thinking she'd be perfect for Radio 4, so had a quick Google and - lo and behold:

QuoteSarah Kendall - Australian Trilogy will bring Sarah's multi-award winning series of funny and moving stories to Radio 4, taking listeners on a trip, giving them a unique snapshot of small-time life in Australia in the early 90s
.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2016/radio-4-comedy-commissions

Small Man Big Horse

I went down to the Balham Free Fringe comedy festival and saw four shows today, which were:

Alex Kealy: Is An Idea Whose Time Is Come - who has about twenty minutes of okay material, and an hour which was pretty painful (especially as he over-ran by thirty minutes). I've seen a lot of comedy over the years on the open mic circuit, and first Edinburgh shows by comedians, and I always try to be supportive, but for some reason he really fucking irritated me. Perhaps it was because some of the jokes were so lazy and unoriginal ("The last time I was inside a woman was when my mother gave birth to me" being one example) but he also came across as snobbish and superior in places (when he revealed towards the end that he'd gone to Eton I wasn't surprised), and by the end I was actively struggling not to walk out, and I honestly cannot remember ever feeling that way before.

Alice Burden, Megan Shandley and Chloe Petts: Studs - Which was only okay too, sadly. Far better than Kealey, admittedly, but they felt a bit too inexperienced to be taking a show up to the fringe. Petts and Shandley do have a lot of potential though, and I'd definitely check them out again in a couple of years time.

Yianni Agisilaou: The Simpsons Taught Me Everything I Know - A love letter to the series, this was the first show I actively enjoyed throughout, my only issue is that Yianni relies a little bit too much on quoting famous lines and doing impersonations of the characters. But if he cut back on that a little and concentrated more on how The Simpsons affected his life it could be something really enjoyable.

Ian Lane: Aloof - So okay, he is a friend, and a verbwhore as well, but I genuinely thought this was bloody superb and I would have happily paid £15 to see at to the Soho Theatre or any other similar venue. I saw a very early preview back in January and whilst strong and very funny then it's come on leaps and bounds and is one of best things I've seen in ages. So if you're up in Edinburgh go see this or risk my wrath!

WestHill

I'm in Penang, Malaysia at the moment (no big deal) and as part of a local festival the Melbourne International Comedy Roadshow did a couple of gigs. It's a 'best of the fest' type line up but I spotted Phil Wang on the bill and couldn't resist going. Was a bizarre gig and most of the material was about local things: the weather, food, differences between Singapore and Malaysia. This was the second of two nights and it seemed like everyone had rushed out after the first one and conjured up some local bits for the following evening. Wang had easily the strongest material, particularly some stuff on the different intonation of local accents. Overall a weird gig but fun to experience the atmosphere of a comedy show in such a different culture.





GeeWhiz

Rory Scovil at that Invisible Dot this evening. Wonderfully offbeat, fulsome of beard. He's there all week if you fancy.

WestHill

Saw an excellent 'Pick of the Fringe' mixed bill at Manchester Dancehouse last night.

Nish Kumar compered and was great. Hadn't seen him before and was impressed. Such a likeable guy. Bit disappointed he didn't do any material but will make sure I see him live properly.

Acaster kicked off and did a cut down version of Reset, which I've already seen and it was a treat to watch for a second time. He's such a confident performer, with bizarre hand movements, and seems to be using a lot more physical humour and sight gags to elevate his routines.

John Kearns went up second and easily stole the show. I was excited to see what he'd do, as he wasn't at Edinburgh, and as soon as he came out it was clear he's raised his game significantly. He opened with a little bit of old material but in terms of performance he was just incredible. Then he did loads of new routines which were all exceptional. There's so much sadness in his act and he's got such a light touch with descriptive detail that you're just with the character the whole way. Really excited to see what he does next.

Sam Simmons finished up and on any other night he would've been impressive but after the quality before him, he was never gonna reach the same heights. Loads of fun gags and he was a lot less aggressive than I was expecting, based on reviews I'd read. Will have to check a full hour sometime.

Serge

I went to see Lucy Porter's new show 'Consequences' last night. Pretty good, more of an extended good-natured ramble than anything, but she's just funny enough to pull it off. The funniest gag was about Justin Edwards' appearance in 'Eastenders' (she seems to get a lot of material out of him, though to be fair, I suppose most stand-ups probably do a lot about their family in one way or another), and she relentlessly slagged off Queen, which cheered me up immensely. She also gave out sherry and Wotsits to the audience (though I had my eye on the big box of Roses that went tantalisingly unopened), and the abrupt ending was pretty funny.

Small Man Big Horse

I saw Bridget Christie's show during the week have to admit to being a bit disappointed. Not that it was a bad hour of comedy by any means and it contained a lot of decent jokes and ideas, but a few parts fell flat (her impression of Michael Gove being a robot especially stuck out as being weak) and there were quite a few moments where the crowd applauded her but didn't actually laugh. Which is a shame as I'd been really looking forward to seeing her again, as I thought last year's show was something all a bit special.

Puce Moment

I had to go to London this week at short notice for a couple of nights and didn't have time to see what was on. Meandering around Leicester Square trying to find a film to see, I headed towards the Prince Charles cinema and noticed people going into the LS Theatre. I wandered over and saw that Stewart Lee and Bridget Christie were performing that night, and Lee was due on stage in 5mins. I got in with a half-price ticket as all that was available were the bar stools at the back. It was odd, thinking about watching a film and turning in early for the night, and 5mins later I am sat with a beer watching Stewart Lee live!

I thought Lee's Content Provider show was terrific. You can see that it is still in the early stages and in many ways is him treading over familiar ground, but part of the show seems to be about the unpredictability of events in the world, which chimed well. Even his elongated repetition bits were brilliant. Actually, the best I have ever experienced other than his full 'go into the crowd' rants of the old days.

I would echo SMBH a bit with this Christie show. I liked it well enough, there were a couple of really cracking gags, and I found her anger at recent events quite therapeutic to witness. I felt some of my frustrated and stress was diffused by watching Christie on the floor screaming at the heavens. But yes, some of it seemed to be echo chamber material - which I have found myself feeling quite intolerant towards these days.

The man next to me fell asleep, which must have been annoying for Christie given that we were three rows from the front, and right in the middle.

It occurred to me that Christie is fantastic at 10-20mins spots - and packs a lot of brilliant stuff in, but her longer form work is far weaker.


Blinder Data

In October I saw Scott Gibson do his Life After Death show, which won Best Newcomer at the Fringe. He's Glaswegian and it was in Glasgow, so there were quite a few typical off-the-shelf local jokes but overall I was really impressed. The guy knows how to tell a story and maximise comedic value from ostensibly banal anecdotes. He's also naturally very funny. I reckon his star will grow exponentially within the next few years.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Puce Moment on November 27, 2016, 03:05:15 PM
I had to go to London this week at short notice for a couple of nights and didn't have time to see what was on. Meandering around Leicester Square trying to find a film to see, I headed towards the Prince Charles cinema and noticed people going into the LS Theatre. I wandered over and saw that Stewart Lee and Bridget Christie were performing that night, and Lee was due on stage in 5mins. I got in with a half-price ticket as all that was available were the bar stools at the back. It was odd, thinking about watching a film and turning in early for the night, and 5mins later I am sat with a beer watching Stewart Lee live!

I thought Lee's Content Provider show was terrific. You can see that it is still in the early stages and in many ways is him treading over familiar ground, but part of the show seems to be about the unpredictability of events in the world, which chimed well. Even his elongated repetition bits were brilliant. Actually, the best I have ever experienced other than his full 'go into the crowd' rants of the old days.

I would echo SMBH a bit with this Christie show. I liked it well enough, there were a couple of really cracking gags, and I found her anger at recent events quite therapeutic to witness. I felt some of my frustrated and stress was diffused by watching Christie on the floor screaming at the heavens. But yes, some of it seemed to be echo chamber material - which I have found myself feeling quite intolerant towards these days.

The man next to me fell asleep, which must have been annoying for Christie given that we were three rows from the front, and right in the middle.

It occurred to me that Christie is fantastic at 10-20mins spots - and packs a lot of brilliant stuff in, but her longer form work is far weaker.

That sounds like a great night out - which one was it out of interest, as I was there on the Wednesday night and it would have been a shame if we'd missed each other. Glad to hear Lee was so good, I've not seen him live for the last two years so that the tv series would be completely fresh to me (and I'd seen him a ridiculous amount prior to that) but I'm really looking forward to his new show now. And I agree with you about Christie, though her 2015 really was so much better and had me laughing throughout.

CaledonianGonzo

I'd be interested to see how Christie's show has evolved - if at all - since its Edinburgh debut.  Other than a couple of sections that seemed like holdovers from her abandoned show, it felt incredibly fully formed for something conjured up in the 4 or 5 weeks between the Brexit vote and the performance I saw.

Granted I saw it with a very echo chambery sort of audience in The Stand, but from memory she addresses that in the show itself - pointing out that when she tours outside of the big cities she invariably has a hard time of it.

Small Man Big Horse

Spent last night at a comedy club for the second New Year's Eve in a row, the unimaginative bastard that I am. It was a bit of a mixed night though, ending badly, but I'll get to that in a second. On the plus side, the MC James Loveridge handled a slightly rowdy crowd well, there was one especially twatty bloke at the beginning who kept on talking throughout who was nicely dealt with without it seeming cruel, and whilst some of his material might be a tad laddish it worked in the context of the night. The first act on was Abigoliah Schauman, an american lass who had some strong lines and some weak ones, but was appealing overall, and after her was Sean McLoughlin who was the highlight of the night, with a lot of bitter, self-deprecating but largely very funny stuff. After a short break the second half of the night was a bit disappointing though, with Andrea Hubert having the odd decent joke but a fair few which were all a bit average, whilst Anil Desai was pretty shit, frustratingly. I saw him about eight or nine years ago and he's doing all but exactly the same set, which entails a selection of impressions which whilst impressive were mostly completely lacking in humour, and some, like his impression of 90's era Jim Carrey and Austin Powers were quite frankly embarrassing.

Ray Travez

I'd like to participate in this thread more, but I find it very hard to find anything interesting to say about acts I've seen. I think it's easier to take apart something you didn't enjoy, than to write about something you did, and I pretty much always have a good time at comedy gigs. Anyway, here's an edited highlights of the last 18 months or so.

Last year (or was it the year before?) I saw Gregg Proops promoting his then-new book. Not stand-up, just a talk, but I bloody loved it. I always thought he was funny, but I never knew how smart and politically aware he was. A real treat, I just think he's fantastic.

I also saw the Sarah Kendall show, in very raw form. She came off stage saying, "I have so much work to do." Nice story; didn't have enough jokes in at that point. Would be interesting to see it again actually- I think I saw the first outing of the show. On the same night I saw Fin Taylor's "Whitey McWhiteface." Sort of seemed a bit ill-advised. I don't think he has enough life-experience to pull off whatever the fuck it was he was trying to do.

Miranda Kane - Coin-operated girl. I saw this ages ago. Billed as "the cheapest hour you'll spend with a prostitute," which I thought was a good strapline. After 15 minutes, I realised I wasn't going to get any laughs out of it. I didn't really learn much either. Kane felt the need to explain terms like 'watersports', as if we in the audience would be shocked and amazed.

I did get one laugh, during the Q&A. An audience member asked her how many men she'd fucked- what a fucking rude question! Kane ducked it- "I stopped counting. I couldn't work out if it counted or not if someone spaffs on your feet." We want numbers!

I got the impression she was probably a good (ex)prostitute, but not a good comedian, and Belle de Jour with Billie Piper is more explicit.

Seeing the Bridget Christie show with chrissiebrmc in May; really looking forward to it. I want to see someone smart give brexit a good fucking kicking.   

WestHill

No stand up but I saw Nick Mohammed's Houdini the Musical yesterday. A thing of joy from start to finish. Really impressed with how densely packed the gags were and just the quality of the songs/ performance. I imagine there are comparisons being made to The Book of Mormon but personally I far preferred this. Fantastic support from David Elms and Kieran Hodgson too.
Thoroughly deserves all the five star reviews it's getting.