Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 01:17:25 PM

Login with username, password and session length

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

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

Previous topic - Next topic

DrGreggles

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on June 16, 2019, 06:17:59 PM
I should have seen two Edinburgh previews today but one cancelled as I was the only audience member. A comedian called Peter Fleming (well, that's his character name) if anyone plans to see him I'd advise calling the venue beforehand as he seems shit at promoting his gigs. Anyhow...

That's Tom Burgess (from Sam & Tom) isn't it?

Small Man Big Horse

Yeah, though I didn't know he was part of Sam and Tom.

TheDHolford

Went to the Manchester comedy store on Friday night and saw some great acts. Though how much that was due to the drink, (birthday night with my partner, so we'd had a fair few.)

But saw, Sally Ann Hayward as the MC, she was good, if a little safe with her material and fairly standard crowd interactions, but had some funny enough moments.

Paul McCaffrey was again decent enough, a big bog standard and some material that felt like I had seen before and done better by other comedians, like a bit about the name 'anusol' and going for the 'check-up' at the doctors.

Newcomer Simon Lomas was excellent. A slightly odd character act and I'm not sure I could sit through an entire show by him, but the punchlines and delivery were top notch for a small segment in a comedy store night!

Mick Ferry, I really enjoyed. The delivery and slight tones of Peter Kay about him, but with much better material and genuine jokes. Some of his stuff was the funniest of the night, so I have no idea why someone like him has never broken out and into the mainstream world.

Paul Myrehaug I have never heard of before, but was consistently funny in his slot, again, mostly observational and by the books, but some solid laughs from him.

The Noise Next Door were my highlights, and probably everyone else's in the Comedy Store, they certainly got the biggest laughs of the nights. Their brand of improv comedy is stylized and unique, and feels fresh, while also being genuinely hilarious in some moments. Would certainly go and see a full show by them.

Dusty Substance



I saw Nick Revell a couple of weeks ago. An absolute master story teller who's been doing comedy for 40 years and has the ability to slowly turn a relatively normal tale into something truly bizarre over the course of an hour. If you've never seen him and he's playing near where you live, you must make the effort to see him.

Jo Neary's new show "Wife On Earth" is also excellent.  Performed in character as "Celia", the women's institute member from a small village could, in the hands of most comedy actors, easily be a lazy Daily Mail, UKIP type but Celia has so many levels going on and everything's so positive and brilliantly funny. Another highly recommended show.

I also saw a nameless Irish comedian talking about Catholicism, farms and whiskey.  Very predictable stuff but they were quite new so they're still learning and I wish them the best.

Also managed to catch ten minutes of a quartet of blokes who looked like they belong in an indie band, doing improvised stories, sketches and songs. I left because I couldn't stand the overwhelming cringe. The rest of the audience seemed to like it.


Small Man Big Horse

Tarot - A new sketch group made up of members of Gein's Family Giftshop and Goose, the concept is that they use tarot cards to give readings to various audience members and the sketches are based on the cards drawn. In reality of course it was all prepared in advance and I'm not sure they really need such a framing device, but apparently there's going to be more about the whole tarot card thing in the finished show and this was a very early work in progress. Either way it was a lot of fun in general, and the sketches were strong, quite unpredictable and really well performed.

Goose - Normally a one man sketch show, it's a bit hard to judge this as a fair part of the show was him telling the audience what would happen in the show as it was quite complicated and for the first time involved other people. But when he performed the sketches that will be in it they made me laugh, and I'd definitely be interested in seeing it when it's properly finished.

DrGreggles

Quote from: Dusty Substance on June 17, 2019, 11:56:13 AM
I saw Nick Revell a couple of weeks ago. An absolute master story teller who's been doing comedy for 40 years and has the ability to slowly turn a relatively normal tale into something truly bizarre over the course of an hour. If you've never seen him and he's playing near where you live, you must make the effort to see him.

Saw him at The Stand last year by accident* and it was fantastic.
Going again this year on purpose.


*I think he was on in between Seymour Mace and someone else that I had a ticket for, so went to see him because I couldn't be arsed to move. My laziness paid dividends!

Shit Good Nose

Patton Oswalt at the O2 (Kentish Town theatre, not the enormodome thank fuck) on Saturday.  Josh Gad stood mere feet away from us when we were waiting to go in.

A solid 7 out of 10 - better than last year's special (which I found a bit disappointing), but a couple of old bits, one VERY old bit, and a pretty lame section where he engaged the front row - low rent stuff he's never done before.  Padding methinks.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on June 19, 2019, 07:31:20 PM
Patton Oswalt at the O2 (Kentish Town theatre, not the enormodome thank fuck) on Saturday.  Josh Gad stood mere feet away from us when we were waiting to go in.

A solid 7 out of 10 - better than last year's special (which I found a bit disappointing), but a couple of old bits, one VERY old bit, and a pretty lame section where he engaged the front row - low rent stuff he's never done before.  Padding methinks.

A good friend of mine went to that and loved it, but then she really enjoyed Afterlife so can't be trusted when it comes to comedy.

peanutbutter

Saw Tim Key there tonight, seemed quite early in the WIP stages overall, it's kind of hard to gauge the point where its his general on stage persona carrying things and the material pushing it to another level. Fun show overall though.



I was at an angle where I couldn't see the videos played throughout at all, was Olivia Colman in one of them? He mentioned the presence of a now "academy award nominated actor" being a bit weird now  so I assume it was her?

alan nagsworth



Got to meet Gregg last night after the Neil Hamburger show - which was of course belligerent and hilarious. He was out of character (but still in costume) signing records afterwards, very lovely, chatted about falafel for a bit but I was too nervous to say much. Still, though! Gregg Turkington!

The show was billed as him performing a crooners set backed by a live orchestra, but he basically just did a regular standup show bookended by a song. It was great. The crowd heckled a lot more this time which he ran with and it was a lot of fun to be in a crowd at the receiving end of his bilious rage, although there was one cunt at the back who kept intermittently just yelling grunts, sometimes during jokes, which was fucking lame and seemed to throw Hamburger off his train of thought on more than one occasion.

Small Man Big Horse

Glad you liked it Nags, I'm still hoping to go next week but haven't a booked a ticket just yet. Also: Bring back the moustache. I miss it greatly.

Seagullsim

I saw John Robins do a WIP in Leeds the other day. All very enjoyable - he's obviously a great standup, but if you're a fan of his you'll have heard most of it already. Most of the anecdotes were from the old XFM shows, along with some potentially iffy 'Me Too' satire.

Liked it, but doubt it'll be troubling the awards this time.

Yeah, I saw Robins in Feb and again on Monday and I can't really believe all the New York stuff has made the cut.

alan nagsworth

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on June 20, 2019, 03:11:19 PM
Also: Bring back the moustache. I miss it greatly.

I'm not going to say my girlfriend was strongly opposed to it, but she gave it quite a good many dismissive stares. I do plan to bring it back in the future, because one night was not enough.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on June 19, 2019, 10:32:59 PM
A good friend of mine went to that and loved it, but then she really enjoyed Afterlife so can't be trusted when it comes to comedy.

I haven't seen Afterlife, but I can't fucking stand Gervais, and the 50 (yes - fifty) minutes I saw of him live (Politics) cost me fifty five fucking quid plus booking fee (and that was in 2004!!!!!) and I think I might have mildly giggled once and maybe smiled another once or twice.

But Gervais really isn't a good comparison, so don't hold her like of Afterlife as a red flag to avoid my boy Patton.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Seagullsim on June 20, 2019, 04:01:53 PM
I saw John Robins do a WIP in Leeds the other day. All very enjoyable - he's obviously a great standup, but if you're a fan of his you'll have heard most of it already. Most of the anecdotes were from the old XFM shows, along with some potentially iffy 'Me Too' satire.

Liked it, but doubt it'll be troubling the awards this time.

That's a shame, I quite liked The Darkness Of Robins and was hoping he'd only get better, but relying on old material seems a bit lazy to me.

Quote from: alan nagsworth on June 20, 2019, 05:38:50 PM
I'm not going to say my girlfriend was strongly opposed to it, but she gave it quite a good many dismissive stares. I do plan to bring it back in the future, because one night was not enough.

Ah, I do believe it's time for a new girlfriend then, which may come as a shock but it's the only reasonable response.

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on June 20, 2019, 06:03:40 PM
I haven't seen Afterlife, but I can't fucking stand Gervais, and the 50 (yes - fifty) minutes I saw of him live (Politics) cost me fifty five fucking quid plus booking fee (and that was in 2004!!!!!) and I think I might have mildly giggled once and maybe smiled another once or twice.

But Gervais really isn't a good comparison, so don't hold her like of Afterlife as a red flag to avoid my boy Patton.

I fucking hated Afterlife and wrote a very angry review of it elsewhere, and can't stand his stand up either, but it does seem like a one off brainwrong as most of the time she has good taste in comedy. And I am very fond of Patton in general, but being a massive tightarse will never see him live given the cost.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on June 20, 2019, 06:32:04 PM
being a massive tightarse will never see him live given the cost.

£35 for an A-list comedian - and an American A-list comedian at that - doing 90 minutes was a bit of a bargain, I thought.  Gervais was charging £65 for his current tour and I guarantee he won't do more than 65 minutes (to be fair he does call himself the "pound a minute comedian" in another one of his shows if memory serves).

Patton said he'd definitely be back next summer, so maybes keep your eyes peeled for then (where he'll no doubt start charging £90 and only do an hour)...

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on June 20, 2019, 06:58:11 PM
£35 for an A-list comedian - and an American A-list comedian at that - doing 90 minutes was a bit of a bargain, I thought.  Gervais was charging £65 for his current tour and I guarantee he won't do more than 65 minutes (to be fair he does call himself the "pound a minute comedian" in another one of his shows if memory serves).

Patton said he'd definitely be back next summer, so maybes keep your eyes peeled for then (where he'll no doubt start charging £90 and only do an hour)...

That is pretty good, but I very annoyingly refuse to pay more than £30 a ticket for any comedian, which is why I didn't get the chance to see my beloved Rachel Bloom when she was over here earlier on in the month. That said tickets to see her were around the £60 mark, and if Patton does come back next year at the same price I might break it just this once.

Tony Tony Tony

Off to see Frank Skinner on Monday at Leicester Square Theatre. On the subject of ticket prices I was charged some 21 pounds quid for the actual ticket but the venue slaps on a further three for booking. As I purchased two this inflated the cost by another six sponduliks. Whilst you could argue twenty four of your British pounds is still good value for an A list comic in that London where does the venue get off on the booking fee? After all I booked via a website with no real human interaction and printed off the tickets at home on my printer with my ink.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Tony Tony Tony on June 21, 2019, 07:10:35 PM
Off to see Frank Skinner on Monday at Leicester Square Theatre. On the subject of ticket prices I was charged some 21 pounds quid for the actual ticket but the venue slaps on a further three for booking. As I purchased two this inflated the cost by another six sponduliks. Whilst you could argue twenty four of your British pounds is still good value for an A list comic in that London where does the venue get off on the booking fee? After all I booked via a website with no real human interaction and printed off the tickets at home on my printer with my ink.

Yeah that annoys me too, I don't mind paying a quid (which is the case with ticket text and the Soho theatre) but three quid takes the piss.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: Tony Tony Tony on June 21, 2019, 07:10:35 PM
Off to see Frank Skinner on Monday at Leicester Square Theatre.

I'm seeing him on tour in September. Let me know how the show is so I can get excited/brace myself.


Small Man Big Horse

Annie McGrath - Shepherd - An early work in progress admittedly, but I thought this was quite weak and I predicted the punchline to a fair few jokes which isn't ever a good thing. I'd not heard of her before so guessed it was her first show but it turns out it's her third which was quite the surprise, perhaps it'll change a lot over the next few weeks before she takes it up to Edinburgh but as it is I can't recommend it.

Lou Sanders - Say Hello To Your New Step Mummy - This was a lot better though for Sanders it's a fairly conventional show, with her doing no characters or anything like that and just exploring the relationships she's had and how she used to behave in the past. I liked it a good deal, it's not anything amazing just yet but it made me laugh hard in places, and she commented several times that certain parts really needed work, so hopefully by the time it's finished it'll be a must see.

hummingofevil

I saw Angela Barnes last week as my Mum likes her (well she did) and on balance it was pretty dreadful. I was expecting a sold out, smug Radio 4 listener gig at The Stand but didn't quiet expect how much it would boil my piss. The last time I left a gig feeling like that was see Chris Addision years ago.

I can barely recall details but both she and her support seemed to straddle this idea of incredulity about the way the world is going, that Brexit and Boris and Trump are the worst things ever to happen to the world whilst being completely unaware of their own role in the rapid failure of society by equating the failings of the left with the outright intentionally hateful agenda of the right. "Our" politics have become divided and polarised and both left and right are in extremes and oh if only more people were like me, with my Radio 4 series and sensible centrist ideas then we would all be fine. That was the vibe.

There was some shitty, snobby stuff thrown about poor people who voted Brexit and ultimately it all felt smug-as-fuck. Then there was the mandatory explanation of how she was "from a working class background" who lucked out in grammer school that you could finish the sentences as it was so predictable and when she randomly shifted into her feminsim bit (it was a bolted on bit at the end) my mother and sister literally groaned. Predictable, awful shit.

The thing that annoyed me the most is that I actually think she was potential to be a decent comic as she is quite a funny stage presence and there were a few good zingers in there. That that was true just made it all the more annoying for me.

As I left I overheard a young couple on a date chatting "What did you think?" he asked.  "She was okay." was the woman's reserved and polite reply. The lack of enthusiasm was very telling.

Norton Canes

Saw Milo McCabe as Troy Hawke a few weeks ago, can thoroughly recommend you try and catch one of his shows.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: hummingofevil on June 24, 2019, 01:26:19 AM
I saw Angela Barnes last week as my Mum likes her (well she did) and on balance it was pretty dreadful. I was expecting a sold out, smug Radio 4 listener gig at The Stand but didn't quiet expect how much it would boil my piss. The last time I left a gig feeling like that was see Chris Addision years ago.

I can barely recall details but both she and her support seemed to straddle this idea of incredulity about the way the world is going, that Brexit and Boris and Trump are the worst things ever to happen to the world whilst being completely unaware of their own role in the rapid failure of society by equating the failings of the left with the outright intentionally hateful agenda of the right. "Our" politics have become divided and polarised and both left and right are in extremes and oh if only more people were like me, with my Radio 4 series and sensible centrist ideas then we would all be fine. That was the vibe.

There was some shitty, snobby stuff thrown about poor people who voted Brexit and ultimately it all felt smug-as-fuck. Then there was the mandatory explanation of how she was "from a working class background" who lucked out in grammer school that you could finish the sentences as it was so predictable and when she randomly shifted into her feminsim bit (it was a bolted on bit at the end) my mother and sister literally groaned. Predictable, awful shit.

The thing that annoyed me the most is that I actually think she was potential to be a decent comic as she is quite a funny stage presence and there were a few good zingers in there. That that was true just made it all the more annoying for me.

As I left I overheard a young couple on a date chatting "What did you think?" he asked.  "She was okay." was the woman's reserved and polite reply. The lack of enthusiasm was very telling.

That's disappointing to hear, I had thought about going to see her but won't bother now.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: alan nagsworth on June 20, 2019, 08:52:07 AM


Got to meet Gregg last night after the Neil Hamburger show - which was of course belligerent and hilarious. He was out of character (but still in costume) signing records afterwards, very lovely, chatted about falafel for a bit but I was too nervous to say much. Still, though! Gregg Turkington!

The show was billed as him performing a crooners set backed by a live orchestra, but he basically just did a regular standup show bookended by a song. It was great. The crowd heckled a lot more this time which he ran with and it was a lot of fun to be in a crowd at the receiving end of his bilious rage, although there was one cunt at the back who kept intermittently just yelling grunts, sometimes during jokes, which was fucking lame and seemed to throw Hamburger off his train of thought on more than one occasion.

I went along to this last night and loved it too, it's the first time I've seen him live and it just made me regret not catching him each and every time he's been in the UK. It's an incredibly captivating performance, the jokes are beautifully constructed, and he's the kind of comedian who can just move in an unusual way and it will make you laugh hard. There was one heckler who piped up a couple of times but I didn't have an issue as Hamburger's responses were so funny, and after about the third time he stopped speaking so didn't spoil the gig in any way at all.

Tony Tony Tony

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on June 22, 2019, 10:22:39 PM
I'm seeing him on tour in September. Let me know how the show is so I can get excited/brace myself.

Last night with Frank Skinner at the Leicester Square Theatre was, as you would expect from such a seasoned performer, a delight. As a form of quality control I took along Mrs TTT to ensure I wasn't watching through Frank Tinted Specs and can confirm she enjoyed herself immensely.

The set was just over an hour, which might seem a tad short but I guess this fits in with the upcoming Edinburgh dates, though I am not sure if it will be the same on the national tour following the festival. I suppose the London dates may well be some sort of work in progress testing out some bits for the big tour? Whatever the case Frank didn't disappoint. There was quite a lot of audience interaction though this was much more by way of friendly banter than the Jimmy Carr heckler baiting type stuff  I saw recently. With Skinner this can often lead to meandering highlights as he has such a quick comedic brain. An example being where he talked to an audience member who turned out to be a tax consultant. After using this for a fairly predicable dig at Jimmy Carr he realized that the guys name, Owen, was wholly appropriate for his occupation. He topped this by stating that if the guys surname turned out to be Cash he would dance around the stage with his trousers round his ankles (It wasn't so he didn't).

There were a couple of references to things I have heard on his radio show but they couldn't really be classed as recycled material as they built on things he has said on Absolute with things he probably couldn't say on air. There were also some bits I had read about from other earlier reviews of the show that were missing, so it may well be that he is indeed testing out material for a longer show. There was one piece about someone he saw on a bus (he flashed his buss pass at one point to prove he does travel by public transport as well as reinforce his advanced years) with a wheelchair that still has me chuckling as I type and drew gasps from some parts of the audience. I do hope this bit is kept in which I suspect it will, particularly as he back referenced it a while later getting  a similar reaction.     

I last saw him live in the 90's at the height of new laddishness and he is now much less crude/cutting edge (delete as appropriate). This show is much more of a refined Frank Skinner though none the less funny. I suppose it is a bit of a cliche, but he has mellowed with age like a fine wine and I could certainly down a glass or two more.             

Small Man Big Horse

I caught two more previews today:

Ed Aczel - Artificial Intellect - Another fun show with Ed as he rambles away and talks about various subjects, and asks the audience their opinions on some of them. It was a very low key gig with a small audience but I liked it a lot, it never entered hysterically funny territory but was very amiable stuff from start to finish.

Ali Brice - Bin Wondering - This was a little bit all over the place, it started with Ali dressed as a crocodile and doing a lot of silly gags, then saw him tell a long story about the time he spent four hours in a bin, before out of the blue becoming rather serious as he talked about his problems with alcohol before reverting to daftness as he dressed up as a duck and got the audience to throw bread at him. Most of it was pretty funny but he needs to incorporate the more serious part in to the show with a bit more care as it doesn't quite fit with the rest of the material right now.

Small Man Big Horse

George Fouracres - Gentlemon - I was impressed this by a lot, his material is very strong from the get go as he talks about life with in the Black Country and growing up living with his grandparents, and he also does a bit of character comedy as well, the best bit being an impression of Pamela Cundell from Dad's Army. The ending needs a tiny bit of polishing but bar that I've no complaints and it was easily one of the funniest previews I've seen so far this year.

bigfatheart

Saw James Acaster last night. Old news since he's been touring the show for a while, but I thought it was great, especially the second half, which touches on the more personal themes and which I found pretty cathartic in places. Interesting and disappointing that there were a couple of hecklers who chose to pipe up at the worst possible points, something that, judging by his response, has been pretty common recently. Good to hear Ricky Gervais get a kicking for his transphobic material, although it shows how much this forum has affected my brain that when he was initially being coy about the stand-up whose material he was referring to, all I could think was "...Graham Linehan doesn't do any stand-up, does he?"