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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

Previous topic - Next topic

DrGreggles

Going to see Steve Martin* at the Royal Albert Hall for my birthday!
I know he's been shit for ages, but I'm still really excited.



*and Martin Short

up_the_hampipe


Blue Jam

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on February 16, 2020, 01:37:19 PM
How was your night, Blue Jam?

Sorry, meant to reply to this ages ago:


Seymour Mace was great as usual and I enjoyed Kai Humphries as host. Thought Andrea Hubert was a mixed bag, going after some easy targets like yummy mummies and antivaxxers, but I did a nervous laugh at "people who have no personality but just really like Breaking Bad".

Would go to Saturday Bitesize again, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

DrGreggles

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on February 25, 2020, 01:18:01 PM
How dare you put Martin Short as the footnote.

Oh, I dare.

Short wasn't an idol of mine growing up though, so it doesn't mean as much to me.
Never liked The Professionals anyway.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Blue Jam on February 25, 2020, 01:38:24 PM
Sorry, meant to reply to this ages ago:


Seymour Mace was great as usual and I enjoyed Kai Humphries as host. Thought Andrea Hubert was a mixed bag, going after some easy targets like yummy mummies and antivaxxers, but I did a nervous laugh at "people who have no personality but just really like Breaking Bad".

Would go to Saturday Bitesize again, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

I'm really glad you (mostly) enjoyed it, I watched Seymour Mace's Herring interview yesterday and he's gone up in my estimation an enormous amount, so will definitely check him out soon.

Small Man Big Horse

Carys Eleri - Lovecraft (Not The Sex Shop In Cardiff) - A real mixed bag this one as she talked about her past relationships and the science of love, with the quality a bit all over the place, at times it was really funny and some of her songs were great, but at other points it felt a bit on the nose and obvious. She's a talented performer but considering tickets were £18 (or at least would have been if I hadn't been reviewing it for free) it does need to be sharpened and tightened up, and right now I'd only cautiously recommend it to those who really like musical comedy.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Watched Chris Rock's Netflix special "Tamborine" lately. It's okay. It's Chris Rock being Chris Rock. He did a routine about his divorce near the end without once shitting on his ex-wife for cheap laughs which I thought was classy of him.

privatefriend

John-Luke Roberts and John Kearns this past week in Glasgow. Both very good, surprised Kearns is struggling a bit for numbers on this tour* he should be a star. Wish I had a recording of these shows as they both densely packed contained some exquisite jokes which I have as usual instantly forgotten.

*He does spit at the audience a lot, this could be a valid concern for pandemic avoiders

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: DrGreggles on February 25, 2020, 03:32:20 PM
Oh, I dare.

Short wasn't an idol of mine growing up though, so it doesn't mean as much to me.
Never liked The Professionals anyway.

Guarantee you'll find Short funnier on the night.

Small Man Big Horse

The Bullpen - An afternoon gig where comedians test out new material: Elf Lyons was all kinds of majestic and instantly became a comedian I love just off of the back of 20 minutes; I was already a fan of Sara Pascoe but she amplified that even moreso here; Heidi Regan wasn't quite up there with the first two but she was really great, a confident and very funny comic with some strong material; Fiona Sagar and Vanessa Hammick were the two hosts of the gig who were very likeable and had some decent material, but perhaps need to work on their personas a little more; Karen Hobbs I'd seen before and was okay, not amazing but I know she's fairly new to the scene so hopefully will improve over time.

Small Man Big Horse

Quantum Leopard - Back once again, and for the first time since I've started attending the night it was a slightly patchy gig. That said most of them were good - with Paul Duncan McGarrity really impressing, and I'd definitely like to see him do a full length show, and Joe Sutherland was pretty strong even though the concept of his set (theatre is rubbish) isn't one I necessarily agree with. Two American comics, Milly Tamazrez and Marcia Belsky did short sets too and were fun, but on the downside I didn't really find Ania Magliano that amusing, four out of the five (supposed) open mic'ers were weak, and headliner Kate Smurthwaite was a very mixed bag, she had some okay material and made me laugh on occasion, but some of it felt dated (stories about dogging and dating) and she comes across as a little smug at times.

Just seen Alexei Sayle in Liverpool. Some recycled gags from sandwich bar but still superb.

Embarrassing for my wife when he coughed during a zen master in Wuhan bit and I laughed thinking it was a topical joke. On me own there.

samadriel

Quote from: Toxteth OGrady on March 11, 2020, 12:19:23 AM
Embarrassing for my wife when he coughed during a zen master in Wuhan bit and I laughed thinking it was a topical joke. On me own there.


peanutbutter

Saw Jordan Brookes doing a wip show there, first one for what will be the next show, I think? Seemed very rough without a clear plan of where it's going but it was a huge contrast to the show in Soho Theatre at the moment and in a really good way. Like, obviously not a better show but showed he's capable of doing very different stuff, was very engaging just waffling on with some stories.

samadriel

I saw Becky Lucas' show last night. She seems a little rattled, like she's lost confidence since last year's show, which is a great shame, because she's hilarious. I love her impressions of the people of her generation, whether it's the bridesmaids' speeches or the pregnant teenage boys or the boring office guy who refuses to hit on her. It's mostly observational, but often of very niche things, although the stuff about divorced parents certainly seemed to hit home for a lot of people. I doubt she'll play the UK any time soon, but maybe you'll see her on TV? She was on Conan a little while back

Small Man Big Horse

Went to my first stand up gig in five months last night, at Vauhall's Open Air comedy night, the mc was Aurie Styla and his crowd work was reasonably decent, though his prepared material a bit dodgy, a bit on Destiny's Child being witches felt a bit misjudged even though when he commented on their lyrics he was on slightly firmer ground. Fortunately the majority of the acts were far, far better, with Carl Donnelly opening the first half in a strong manner, the subjects he covers might not be the freshest of topics (parenting, IVF, wanking) but the way he tackles them was nicely funny, and he has a great turn of phrase. Esther Manito followed, who I've seen and liked before, and who was once again very (and understandably) angry at the world but turned that in to some very funny observations. After the break was Jon Long who was my favourite act of the night, admittedly I'm a huge fan of musical comedy but the songs he did were really great, one about consent in nightclubs managing to make a serious point while also making the crowd laugh, while another about recycling plants was just plain funny. So it's a real shame that Kae Kurd headlined, he came on and aggressively insulted some of the audience (who were admittedly quite drunk, but they weren't making much noise compared to others in the venue), made jokes about his generation being unprepared for war as they were obsessed with the importance of gender neutral toilets, and then compared remainers to people who get annoyed when others don't wear masks in shops. All of which was at best misjudged, and at worst plain fucking stupid, and one final routine about smart fridges was bland in the extreme, and why his fridge spoke in a camp voice is beyond me, as it certainly wasn't funny. He's someone I will actively try to avoid now, and a mixed bill with him on it would have to be stunning for me to even contemplate attending a gig he's performing at.

up_the_hampipe

Joe List has a new special out on YouTube. It is funny and he is funny https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odtAJ2kPdqc

Also enjoyed much of Sam Jay's new special on Netflix.

Small Man Big Horse

I went to another Quantum Leopard mixed bill last night, my first stand up gig since last August, and unfortunately it was a bit of a dud  bar a couple of exceptions. I might be being a bit harsh as obviously a lot of the comics won't have performed as regularly as they used to, but I don't think that was the only reason why they were so average and not many felt rusty or lacking in confidence. Anyhow, here's a quick short summary: Thom Tuck - Someone I've liked a lot in the past but he seemed less eccentric than before, and a lot of his material had the feel of someone testing it out for the first time to see what worked and only about half did. Mark Dean Quinn - Fucking awful, and tedious too. He opened with a bit about having to cut his two hour show down to 15 minutes and how he now had no jokes, I've seen a lot of comedians attempt this sort of thing and you either need to be really charismatic or over the top in your arrogance, and then deliver a set which is actually funny, and Quinn did neither. It was tedious, irritating and seemed to go on for a painful amount of time. Alex Bertulis-Fernandes was pretty good at least, with some very sharp observations and lines, though it felt like she ran out of steam towards the end, Alice India then went on about sex for a long old time and it was a bit bland, fine but uneventful, while at the end Tom Ward headlined, he had a lot of really strong material, his fake adverts for McDonalds and Shell relating to Climate Change was excellent stuff, but again towards the end it trailed off a bit. Definitely the best act of the evening though, and it's a night that's normally much much better than this so I will return at some point.

Pink Gregory

Me and Ms. Gregory saw a livestreamed Laura Lexx show earlier this year, largely due to SMBH's praise, and I must say she very much lived up to those lofty expectations.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Pink Gregory on October 17, 2021, 07:43:31 PM
Me and Ms. Gregory saw a livestreamed Laura Lexx show earlier this year, largely due to SMBH's praise, and I must say she very much lived up to those lofty expectations.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, I'm a big fan of hers. I have to admit I think her Klopp Actually book is a bit patchy (or more that it's a fun idea for about thirty pages but then is dragged out for far too long) but I'm still a big fan of her stand up.

Small Man Big Horse

Rob Auton - The Crowd Show (Work In Progress) - I'd never seen Auton before but had heard a lot of people say that he was fantastic, and reviews of his previous show were extremely glowing and then some. He also started talking about some of his past shows, and doing brief bits from them which were very funny, before explaining the nature of a work in progress show just in case anyone in the crowd hadn't been to one before. All which I mention as the parts from his former shows were very, very funny, but I've never seen a Work In Progress show before at this early a stage (and I've seen a fair few over the years), and I couldn't help but feel by the end that it wasn't really fair to charge an audience to see a show that needed so much work before it was ready, that or he could have mixed it up more, performed a part which was new, but if that didn't work (and many didn't) then do something from a previous show which did. Quite a few segments trailed off without any punchline, or some just seemed far too weak and barely raised a smile, which frustrated as I liked him a good deal, the way his mind works was intriguing, but all too often a routine didn't go anywhere. It hasn't put me off seeing him again, and I'll definitely see the finished version of this, but at the same time I won't go to a work in progress again.

Blinder Data

Tony Law - Identifies

This show was originally scheduled for March 2020. I guess it must have featured about 10% of the material I might have enjoyed had COVID never happened.

Mr Law was clearly out-of-practice and simply delighted to be back onstage. Lots of stuff about lockdown, some unsuccessful tangents. One absolutely hilarious bit about a WWII-era warplane (naturally). It was the most shambolic I've seen him - his shows tend to be quite well thought-out, despite the madcap nature - but still funny and loads of fun. Sometimes his material isn't the strongest but he carries it effortlessly. Always a good night out.

(I was half expecting some dodgy "free speech" material but apart from a few quips about how social media is bad, it was fine. Tony Law remains uncancelled.)

Small Man Big Horse

Catherine Bohart - Work In Progress - An hour long show which is largely about Bohart trying to deal with her OCD and therapy during lockdown, along with the break up of a five year long relationship with another comedian. It was obviously still a little rough around the edges, but 95% of it was fantastic and made me laugh harder than I have in a long, long time, and she's a comedian who I'm a now huge fan of and so I hope she goes on to big things.

CaledonianGonzo

We saw a very early WIP of that back in August and enjoyed it so much we're off to watch it again next week on the assumption it can only have got better.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Going to see the Dirt Birds in February, assuming we aren't all locked down again. Looking forward to it.

DrGreggles

Going to see Police Cops' new show aand Nick Helm's old show this weekend.

Small Man Big Horse

#356
Quote from: CaledonianGonzo on November 23, 2021, 07:26:27 AMWe saw a very early WIP of that back in August and enjoyed it so much we're off to watch it again next week on the assumption it can only have got better.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it too, and I'd be really interested to hear how much of it has changed since then.

Quote from: DrGreggles on November 23, 2021, 09:19:30 AMGoing to see Police Cops' new show aand Nick Helm's old show this weekend.

I didn't realise the new Police Cops show was already being staged, I loved the last one and am definitely going to go and see it in December at some point.

DrGreggles

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on November 23, 2021, 06:33:00 PMI didn't realise the new Police Cops show was already being staged, I loved the last one and am definitely going to go and see it in December at some point.

Opens this week.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: DrGreggles on November 23, 2021, 09:01:28 PMOpens this week.

I noticed that and have now bought tickets for a December date and can't wait to see it, their last show really was one of the best things I've seen in years and due to my love for musicals it'd be amazing if I didn't enjoy it.

DrGreggles

There's been a musical element to all their previous shows, but this is far more ambitious - extended cast, live band, etc,

I helped crowd fund it too, so hopefully it goes to Broadway!