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

[Small Man Big Horse]

Last Tango in Paris - 8/10

You say that live?!?!

Bec is adorable. Saw a WiP she did a couple of years ago and it was fucking superb (far better than the finished show, if I'm honest).
She seems to be on the up, both as a performer and in terms of her career. Has she been Avaloned?

I'm a huge fan as well, I hadn't seen her prior to December when she headlined a mixed bill but as soon as I did I wanted to catch a full length show. And she's with PBJ Management apparently, who I don't know much about so can't say if that's a good or bad thing.

[DrGreggles]

She's been getting a few telly gigs, so I always assume that Avalon are involved.
No basis for that, other than about 80% of comedians on TV...

[Small Man Big Horse]

She's been getting a few telly gigs, so I always assume that Avalon are involved.
No basis for that, other than about 80% of comedians on TV...

I get where you're coming from, and they and PBJ do seem to have a huge segment of the comedy world sewn up between them.

The Bullpen Comedy - Where Lou Sanders, Freya Parker, Jenny Collier, David Mills, Lulu Popplewell, Ray Badran, Fiona Sagar and Victoria Hammick did snippets of extremely new material, given the nature of the gig it's perhaps unfair to judge in great detail but afterwards I found myself thinking that I'd definitely seek out Sanders, Parker, Collier, Mills, Hammick and Popplewell again, but would probably give the others a miss, at least for a while until they'll hopefully have the time to polish the material a lot more.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Matt Forde - Brexit, Pursued By A Bear - The title's easily the best thing about this absolutely horrendous pile of shite, where he spends about ten minutes insulting Boris and the rest of the show tearing in to Corbyn. Even if you agree with his political stances the jokes are the kind of drivel you'd have seen on twitter six months ago, and though his impersonations are vaguely recognisable the content is truly weak. One of the worst things I've ever seen, by the end I was actively hating the man.

[imitationleather]

Matt Forde is truly horrific. I hate him so much. Both for having zero talent and also for being a massive cunt.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Matt Forde is truly horrific. I hate him so much. Both for having zero talent and also for being a massive cunt.

I'm glad I'm not alone in my hatred for him, I didn't know anything about him beforehand and only went as his PR people gave me two free tickets and it's a rare event that a show at the Soho Theatre is actively bad, but I truly regret it now.

[MortSahlFan]

Osânda- 7.5/10
An ex-convict seeks a quiet life in the mountains, falls in love, and becomes a crime suspect. I think this movie was very good, and I think 95% of the people here would like it as well.


I found one with English subtitles on YouTube (below)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xoM4cKV1sM

[Small Man Big Horse]

Garrett Millerick - Smile - A strange old show, parts of it I enjoyed a great deal (he has a very strong bit on space tourism and why we don't deserve it, and a segment about how poorly Men Behaving Badly has aged made me laugh a lot) but some of it feels a bit misguided, he clearly enjoys playing devil's advocate but one bit on how women are to blame for climate change as they have so many clothes they only wear once, and use so much product that comes in plastic bottles, was just poor, and oddly what he chose to end the hour on.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Was at another Quantum Leopard last night which was all kinds of superb, Alasdair Beckett-King headlined, I'd seen him a fair few times before and always liked him but now he's really at the top of his game and a comedian I really want to see more of, and The Delightful Sausage were also on the bill, doing a big chunk of their show Ginster's Paradise which I loved a great deal and only wish I could now see in full. Archie Henderson also did a fair chunk of his show Jazz Emu which I have seen but which didn't stop it from being really enjoyable and funny stuff, and Brodi Snook also did material I'd heard before but which was very likeable, if not amazing.

[DrGreggles]

The Delightful Sausage were also on the bill, doing a big chunk of their show Ginster's Paradise which I loved a great deal and only wish I could now see in full.

Touring soon: https://www.thedelightfulsausage.com/tour
More dates to come.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Touring soon: https://www.thedelightfulsausage.com/tour
More dates to come.

Appallingly none are in London, and I know they've already done a Soho Theatre run, but hopefully they'll either film it or do it here one more time as I really did love it, and thought it was a huge step up from their first show.

[DrGreggles]

I think NextUp will be filming the show at some point.
May try to get to the recording if they do.

[boxmatt]

I loved that Delightful Sausage show as well. Hopefully it comes back to London again.  I've got tickets to Josie Long's Tender in Oxford tomorrow which I'm really looking forward to. Will let you know how it is.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I loved that Delightful Sausage show as well. Hopefully it comes back to London again.  I've got tickets to Josie Long's Tender in Oxford tomorrow which I'm really looking forward to. Will let you know how it is.

I hope it's a great gig, I last saw Long when she was supporting Marc Maron and felt a bit disappointed (despite previously being a big fan) but hopefully it was due to it being a short support set and that she's much better when doing a full show.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Lord of The Game Of The Rings Of The Throne - More longform improv from the Hivemind bunch whose Improvengers: Pretendgame superhero show I saw at the start of the month, and this was also pretty fun too, it sagged a bit in the middle and was a bit plot heavy at times, but overall I enjoyed it a fair deal.

Police Cops - Badass Be Thy Name - I'd been wanting to see this since I read people raving about it in the Edinburgh thread, and it lived up to expectations and then some. It's a gloriously silly play involving a kickass priest, vampires and the devil, with the latter's song about sweets being one of the funniest things I've witnessed in ages. From start to finish it was an absolute delight, and when I get around to writing a review of it, it will be of the five star variety.

[DrGreggles]

Police Cops - Badass Be Thy Name - I'd been wanting to see this since I read people raving about it in the Edinburgh thread, and it lived up to expectations and then some. It's a gloriously silly play involving a kickass priest, vampires and the devil, with the latter's song about sweets being one of the funniest things I've witnessed in ages. From start to finish it was an absolute delight, and when I get around to writing a review of it, it will be of the five star variety.

Yes, it's a belting show - somehow even more so than its 5 star predecessors.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Yes, it's a belting show - somehow even more so than its 5 star predecessors.

It made me instantly regret not seeing their earlier work and I hope one day they restage it, or maybe film it for NextUp or something like that, but either way whatever they do next I'll 100% be there.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Has anyone seen Arabella Weir's Does My Mum Loom Big In This?, out of interest? I'm considering seeing it at the weekend (and vaguely cheaply as it's at 2Northdown prior to a theatre tour), but reviews have been a bit mixed.

[Blue Jam]

Yes, it's a belting show - somehow even more so than its 5 star predecessors.

Another Police Cops fan here, and glad to see this as I missed the first two shows and loved the third. It is as wonderfully stupid as a show featuring a priest called "Father Badass" sounds. It was the perfect end to my Fringe 2019

Going to see Seymour Mace again on Saturday, at The Stand Embra with Andrea Hubert and host Kai Humphries. Not seen those last two, looking forward to checking out some new stuff as well as Seymour Mace possibly doing more of a straight stand-up set minus all the props and lighting.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I've only seen Mace via his GoFasterStripe release and had mixed feelings, but everyone has told me he's much better live. And I saw Hubert a short while back and really liked her, so I'm sure you'll have a great night, I really hope so, naturally.

Lola & Jo - Escape - Daft sketch silliness that uses an Escape Room mystery as it's framing device, I liked it well enough at the beginning but then it got better and better, to the extent that by the end it was something I loved a fair bit.

[Blue Jam]

Cheers SMBH- and is she from the North East by any chance? A night of Geordie etc comedy appeals to me but 2/3 ain't bad.

FYI: The Stand (in Embra at least) are now doing two Saturday shows, presumably to cope with demand as the evening one always sells out. They are now doing Saturday Bitesize in the afternoon- same acts, still an hour long, slightly cheaper tickets. The atmosphere probably won't be as lively as the evening show but the time slot is very convenient if you're planning to get dinner afterwards. Also there may be fewer drunks and fewer hecklers.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Cheers SMBH- and is she from the North East by any chance? A night of Geordie etc comedy appeals to me but 2/3 ain't bad.

I don't think so, I can't quite place her accent but she sounds very posh and home counties.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Lucy McCormick - Post Popular - Sublime, crazy and incredibly memorable mixture of comedy, performance art, cabaret and clowning, as McCormick explores the lives of famous women throughout history in a number of absurd and very funny ways, and which contains a couple of things that I'm pretty sure I'll never see again in my life (the ending especially), it was a show I loved more and more as it went on, and I'll definitely go and see whatever she offers up next.

[Tony Tony Tony]

Caught Jack Dee tonight, in Dunstable, on the first date of his tour. Hadn't gone out of may way, it just happens to be where I live and the tickets were a birthday present. The show was exactly what you would expect from him, a well crafted evening that took off in the second half (no support). He still plays on the Mr Grumpy persona just like when I saw him some twenty years ago though I suppose you could call him part of the comedy old guard these days. The only surprise was when he came on for the encore with a guitar and did a song.

I looked up the dates when I got home and saw after tonight he is doing Lowestoft followed by Bedford. It must be galling playing a town then the arse end of nowhere only to follow that up with a date twenty minutes up the road from the night before last. I know the dates are governed by the availability of the venues but surely some sanity should prevail?       

[peanutbutter]

Saw Jordan Brookes there, thought it was great, kind of tempted to go again just to see how much actual material was there and how structured it was. Whole crowd seemed to be reasonably on board, not loads of laughing or anything though, just smirking interest. Imagine he must absolutely bomb some nights though, it's the kind of show where if he picked the wrong person in the crowd and upset them it'd turn the whole audience against him surely?



Watched a few videos too...

The Great Depresh by Gary Gulman, which was a lot more very nice than funny, a few super neat jokes and feels like a guy who is still getting his exact on stage persona down. Not sure he's able to fill a full show though.

What by Bo Burnham
Pretty much an onslaught of funny, wouldn't be surprised if he never tops it

Make Happy by Bo Burnham
An unsurprising drop, still solid but def not as jam packed with jokes and the emotional bits seem misplaced for his onstage act. Considering how well Eighth Grade turned out he should maybe focus on films for a while.

[Stone Cold Steve Austin]

Saw Jordan Brookes there, thought it was great, kind of tempted to go again just to see how much actual material was there and how structured it was. Whole crowd seemed to be reasonably on board, not loads of laughing or anything though, just smirking interest.

https://twitter.com/jordbrookes/status/1195728412607954946

[Small Man Big Horse]

I was at the lovely Quantum Leopard again last night, where the following performed: Will Seaward - A rather big crazy man who tells stories of the sea and supernatural madness, he's got a ridiculous amount of charm and is someone I found extremely amusing and then some, and I'll definitely see him do a full hour when I can; Sooz Kempner - Reading out a script where she joins the cast of Eastenders, when she announced the idea I thought it sounded weak but it was actually bloody funny; Toussaint Douglass - Amusingly wry commentary and occasional bits of daftness that I found very endearing; Luke Poulton - A likeable act who talks about his autism, I'd seen a fair bit of it before so it didn't have the same impact, but he certainly has a good few lines; Lauren Pattison - I'd seen her 2017 show on NextUp and struggled with it a bit, but she's become much much better since then as she rattled through a set at an impressive pace talking about how people treat her due to her accent, and the man she she's now in love with, and it was a set that made me laugh a great deal.

How was your night, Blue Jam?

[Famous Mortimer]

Steve Whalen, aka "Mr Jokes", died last night (from what I gather from his friends posting about it, it was a sudden, unexpected medical thing). His shtick was doing a modern version of a Henny Youngman or something like that, about how women don't like him, his agent is bum (and thinks he's a bum too), really old-fashioned stuff but done with a modern twist.

I discovered him on the New York public access show "The Special Without Brett Davis", and Davis would have him on every week to tell the "joke of the week" and they were sort of deliberately awful but then a few would land beautifully. He just released a standup album, which was great, and he sent me a freebie when I ordered it too (which I must remember to pass on to someone soon).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQH_6KJCv4s

It's just a shame. You may even recognise him when you see his face, he did tons of background and extra work in NY-shot stuff, I think he's in the opening credits of "Broad City" even.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Mr Henry Moss - Quadruple Thre4t - A one man show where Moss takes on a variety of different characters and explores the nature of fame, all the while bursting in to song on a regular basis to highlight how those really feel. It's a funny piece, and infectiously enjoyable, though it doesn't really have anything that new to say about the fame game.

[TheDHolford]

Saw Lou Sanders - Say Hello to Your New Step-Mommy last week and while I enjoyed it,  I don't think it was as well crafted or as streamlined as her previous show. Still a good time though.

Saw Phil Wang, supported by Huge Davies on Friday. Have to say that Huge Davies really surprised me, a great musical act. Phil Wang was great, but exactly what you expect, nothing to break the mold, just some good nice humour.