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Machynlleyh Comedy Festival 2019

Started by BritishHobo, January 10, 2019, 07:21:10 PM

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WestHill

Exciting to read these reviews! Do you know if Sam and Tom will be at Edinburgh?

BritishHobo

Do you think when Owain Glyndŵr the last prince of Wales established his parliament in Machynlleth in 1404, he could ever have foreseen the events of that Glang Show?

BritishHobo

Quote from: WestHill on May 04, 2019, 07:28:50 PM
Exciting to read these reviews! Do you know if Sam and Tom will be at Edinburgh?

Looks like they're both doing solo shows (Tom as Peter Fleming), not sure about as a double act though.

hummingofevil

I find Sam hilarious but Tom I can take it or leave it and the Peter Fleming stuff just doesn't do it for me. Anyway...

Me before The Glang Show: "I'm going to hide at the back as... whilst I really love the idea and the concept the Edinburgh Glang was a bit too... errm... maximal for me... and at times I felt a bit like I might have a panic attack so I need somewhere to sneak out if it gets a bit too much.

Me during The Glang Show: "Hello my name is Johnson number 1 and would you like me to literally spend 50% of the show on the actual fucking stage". For fuck sake. Idiot. Every time. It was a poor tactical decision on my part to play the Glang so early but I wasn't expecting that. It was quite pleasant though. Had worse. Went for a few beers in Y Plas and the repeated "Hello Johnson"s made me smile. Famous for 15 mins.

Also had a lovely chat with Seymour Mace about his stuff. I only live around the corner from him and never normally bother people but we talked about his favourite bits in his last 4-5 shows and (I think) appreciated each other's company for 10 mins.

hummingofevil

Also John Luke-Robert's Terrible Wonderful Adaptations was as good as I hoped. Eleanor Morton was as funny as I have ever seen her but the undoubted star is JLR himself. Like others on here I have always found his hours technically impressive but they leave me a bit cold: calculated comedy. But in these shows where his has a chance to improvise (in character) he is absolutely fucking brilliant. He is razor sharp and I would put him up there with Kitson as someone whose absolute best work is in the stuff that you are least likely to see.

hummingofevil

Also best famous person spot of the day was Osian Roberts chatting to Tudur Owen yn Gymraeg. Did a little wee of excitement at the man who was largely responsible for (Wales' 2016 Euros run) the best three weeks of my life.

BritishHobo

Ha ha! That looked like a cracking massage to be fair. We would have been sat next to each other if Sean had put you in the right seat. The closest I got was trying and failing to help Sean crowdsurf. It flowed so much better than last year, where I think the audience for the most part (myself included) were a bit more shy and wary. I wanted to see fucking chaos, and it delivered.
Sam slayed me throughout. I could have watched a whole show of him just doing that stupid security guard thing.

Steffan Alun was as brilliant as ever. My love for him might partially be because I've never seen a comedian whose observations chime so closely with my own life,  but he's also just a great storyteller, so warm and enthusiastic, proper fizzing with energy, really fascinating and with a great talent for rooting everything in a quiet emotion.

Kiri Pritchard-McLean wrecked me a bit. I'm aware this is very likely a show that everyone has been raving about since Edinburgh, and here I am like 'oh my God, did you know about this?!' Eternally late. Powerful stuff though, partly for personal reasons that I hadn't honestly thought about in years until the show properly knocked me. Welled up a lot. I don't give a shit, I love when comedy gets serious. It's an amazing balance to keep, and she never lost the humour. Really clever structure as well, the format of the show is so perfect to the theme and ideas. I felt genuinely deflated at that 'I thought you were telling my story' moment, as she puts it. It's a risky bid, building the audience's trust and then tearing it away for a long chunk of the show. As I said, I did feel really drawn in because of a previous experience - the bit where she talks about how awful it is being the angry, jealous person really blindsided and affected me, so when she did the fake-out reveal I did feel palpably deflated, like my emotions had been played on. When she brings it back, that is a horrible and powerful moment. Everything about it just worked perfectly. Left completely buzzing, only slightly dampened by the woman in front of me on the way out who grumbled 'I didn't think it would be like that - all feminist'.

BritishHobo

On the train home. More thoughts later. Miss the place already.

paruses

Thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. Share the sentiments of BritishHobo and missing it already - and I'm only up the road. I feel a bit like when it was carnival day when I was little and would feel really flat in the evening (a Nottinghamshire village carnival - I'm not from Rio).

Very quickly -


George Ebulue - good, unpolished, informal. Could be a bit deeper and there were a few misfires but enjoyed it and got things flowing for me.

Rob Kemp - fuck up with times meant we missed the start. It's a like 40 seater so there was no way I was going in. Heard him singing a Sesame Street song which the crowd loved and then on the way past more laughter so sounded like he was getting on with things. (Sorry SMBH)

Great British Mysteries - enjoyed and threw myself into it. Was a bit like an extended Tom Finnemore sketch so I sort of drifted off a little in the middle but good performers and enaging. An hour may be too long.

Steffan Alun - Great - a lot of energy but a gentleness with it and very warm. I knew almost nothing about him or the show before hand and liked where it went. The Scottish PhD student got on my tits a bit but he seems to like crowd work and does it well.

Kerri Pritchard-Maclean - Really impressed. Laughed long and hard. She really commanded the room, I thought. Nice structure and liked the rug-pulling aspects of it.

George Fouracres - much younger than I thought he was going to be. Thought it was going to be gentle observational humour about being from the Black Country but he built up a momentum and kept it going. Need to think a bit more about this as I laughed so much during this and came out buzzing. Absolutely bostin'.

Sean Morley - brilliant ending to my timetable. So funny and unexpected. Even the over-chatty one-upmanship audience members didn't ruin it. Love to see more of him. I have a pic of how his set ended but not sure if I should post in case of spoilers.

More tomorrow no doubt. Can't wait for next year.


hummingofevil

#69
Hello again.

Had a long but lovely day. Had a few more "Hello Johnson"s which was rather sweet.

Phil Kay. I always enjoy Phil and it is always remarkable how he can magic stuff up out of seemingly nothing (the first 20 mins seemed to genuinely be about what happened to him in the the last 10 hours and it was a midday show) but there were a few bits today that were slightly dodgy in terms of being borderline a bit non-PC. There was context for it and the whole essence of his approach is pure honesty in telling you what he is thinking but he weirded a few people out sat by me. Overall, the crowd enjoyed it and the flip side it was as funny a show I've seen him do in a while. His line of "I don't believe in tooth-fairies but I do believe in beliving in them" was absolutely lovely.

Lucy Pearman Fruit Loop. Just a glorious show. Second time I've seen it and thought that a couple of bits I howled at first time round didn't quite hit as hard but there were a few extra touches sneaked in that balanced that out. She really is a total gem. I love her shows.

Luke McQueen. I took my mother to see this and warned her that "he will tell you his show is not very good and sometimes he convinces the audience a bit too well and it actually becomes a bit shit". After the show she said "I am glad you told me that as if you hadn't I would have thought it was rubbish but I can see what he was doing and I really liked it". I agree with my Mum. Again, just a funny man even though the line between pretending to have no material and not having material is a bit of a subjective blur at times.

Seymour Mace and Friends. Just Seymour, Eleanor Morton, Dan James (?) and Matt Rees (Rhys?) doing his silly games/ dicking about format. EM was good, Dan and Matt were ok but I thought Seymour was on top top form. Much like John Luke-Roberts these relaxed formats really bring out the best in him (though I fucking adore Seymour Mace's hours too).

Rosie Jones. If this is anything to go by the final hour is going to be ace. The thing with her delivery is that it sucks everyone in to listen attentively and then when she hits you with her big punchlines the laughs are even bigger - and she has some absolute killer punch lines - the room tunes into her and she knows it and fucks with it and I think she is awesome. She also has a new joke about the advantages of living with disability which is the best joke about the advantages of living with disability ever written. It got full on 10 second long full-room howl. Top stuff.

Marcel Lucont Cabaret. What a weird evening. First half was great. ML on good form (with an excellent three-piece jazz band featuring the superb Laurence Owen on bass). Tony Law and Lou Sanders were brief but fun and Johnny and the Bapists finished the half on a high (featuring a fully racist song sung entirely in french - my French was good enough to interpret - I won't repeat it here). However, in between Simon Munnery managed to weird things out by insisting on leading a reluctant crowd sing-a-long of a unknown Scottish folk song and, inexplicably, commented that Welsh speakers should be killed. This then lead to a guy shouting out "we will kill you first", Munnery apologising and the guy then shouting "I love you". It was all a bit weird.

Then second half John Luke Roberts and Chris Bliss did two bits that were genuinely poor (I am starting to wonder if John Luke Roberts knows why he is funny or not - he did the old crone bit from last years show and it really wasn't great) and we then got an audience participation bit. The show was already running very late but then the guy above got on stage and sang a song of his own in Welsh (my Welsh is still at a relatively beginner standard but the title was about Welsh independence and the sentiment - i think - was just about being proud to use the Welsh language and having a Welsh identity - I think). There was nothing in the song that was dodgy but he was a bit intense (claiming before hand that anyone laughing when he sang is racist) and (despite stating that he had just had a cig with Munnery outside) gave everything a bit of a tense vibe. It all ended up fine but I was really tired by this point and the night finished with a jazz singer (whose name I missed I am afraid) wandering around the audience. I would have really liked it two hours earlier but I was fully weirded out by this point. All fine in the end though I suppose.

My girlfriend went to Amusical instead and said she had a great time and loved it.

hummingofevil

In summary, an ace festival in a brilliant place and I will be back year after year. I like the fact it seems to be two festivals in one as when I left a couple of hours ago the big tent was bouncing with mainly local, mainly teenage kids getting hammered and dancing to chart bops whilst the older, less local comedy-tourists are in the venues watching the shows. There is a bit of strange edge to it all (but everyone seemed to be having fun and no bother).

Challenge for next year is to hit some of the Welsh language shows. Got 1 year to up my Cymraeg game. Pob lwc!

BritishHobo

Yeah, I'm really hoping to do the same. I don't know if you've ever used Say Something in Welsh. I think it works really well - the only problem is me being too fucking lazy to keep at it.

Fuck what a good time. Interesting to see you both had a similar pattern to me (unavoidably in the case of me and paruses both seeing Steffan Alun) of people interrupting shows. I noticed it a bit last year, but it was even more present this year; not even heckling, just people responding as if they think they're involved in a conversation. Very odd.

Really glad to hear you enjoyed Steffan Alun, paruses. I did love his spreed-crowd-work, covering every audience member. Glad also to hear Morley was good. He is now officially down as someone I have to see next year, no matter what. Even if it clashes, or I go with people who have no interest, I have to go. I've missed him twice, I'm now obligated to prioritise him.

Glad I saw Stew though. My expectations had been that maybe it wouldn't at all resemble his usual work, that it would just be him reading ideas without the delivery, or tone, or rhythm of his final shows. But it felt very close. Obviously he's still working out the thematic structure, but everything else was there, it didn't really feel any different to watching him normally - especially since the 'oh that bit didn't really work/that usually gets more laughs/nobody gets it' atmosphere of a work-in-progress is pretty much a large part of his style anyway. I didn't get to see the Snowflake show on Saturday (which I believe is the more political one), so not sure if there's a way they slot together. Either way though, I'm excited to see how this one turns out. There's a fun, vicious hour in there. And a cracking (affectionate) dig at the festival near the beginning that felt like a nice acknowledgment of the locals.

Mike Wozniak and Tom/Peter Fleming were both doing WiPs as well, so it's not really fair to give full reviews to them or Lee. I'd no experience with Wozniak outside of Man Down, but I was pretty intrigued by what he was doing, and I'd love to see how the show comes out at the end.

Peter Fleming was more polished and did feel like it could have been sold as a final show (props, soundtrack and all), so I'm not totally able to say what stage it's at, whether Tom wants to add more, or just test what he's already got. I loved it though. The whole idea just chimed with me in a massive way, a creepy, sad nostalgia. And Tom inhabits the character really well.

I think that's everything. Shit. Think I'll pack it out more next year. Pumped for next year already. I love this festival.

DrGreggles

Two different people have said that Jonny Pelham's show was very good.
Anyone catch it?

I've never heard of him, to be honest.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: paruses on May 05, 2019, 10:19:29 PM
Rob Kemp - fuck up with times meant we missed the start. It's a like 40 seater so there was no way I was going in. Heard him singing a Sesame Street song which the crowd loved and then on the way past more laughter so sounded like he was getting on with things. (Sorry SMBH)

Ah that's a shame, for the record I don't think he's the kind of comedian who'd have made a big thing of your being late but I can completely understand your reluctance to interrupt things. Glad it sounds like he was getting a decent response, anyway.

hummingofevil

Quote from: BritishHobo on May 06, 2019, 08:41:37 AM
Yeah, I'm really hoping to do the same. I don't know if you've ever used Say Something in Welsh. I think it works really well - the only problem is me being too fucking lazy to keep at it.

Maybe we need to set something up to encourage each other. I would start a thread on here but all these English cunts will think we are talking about bombing their caravans or something (wi'n jocan... dw i'n caru Y Saes hefyd... yn gyntaf, dw i'n byw yno ac yn ail, dw i'n prodi un. Urgh).

SSIW is a brilliant resource but the problem I have with it is with the free resources is that I just get... a bit bored. I prefer having a bit more fun when learning new stuff and that rote practice is great but its not the most exciting thing you can do with 40 mins of your time.

I am going to sign up to the £10 premium service and try their "6 minutes a day" thing. Let me know if you fancy it as a friend can get free stuff for recommending you and if you do it before end of May you get £200 free stuff as part of some promotion.

paruses

^I would be up for that. Same problem as BH in that I am too fucking lazy to push on and get stuck in.

Tired now but PM if you want. Will be more with it tomorrow.

Back at work now, depressed and wanting to go bach to Mach, despite no comedy shows taking place now.

hummingofevil went to many of the same shows as I went to, and summed them up nicely, and I haven't got much to add about those, so I'll just make some random comments:

* Abigoliah Schamaun says the word "dick" funnier than anyone that I've heard say the word before, even Chris Rock.  She's a funny gal.
* I went to 17 shows in total, but the two Lucy Pearman ones I saw were the best two shows I saw all weekend.  She's immensely talented, talented to the extent that you feel comedy is lucky to have her.  Every micro-movement, every facial expression, every utterance, the timing, just fucking nailed it, what a gloriously daft and inventive mind, she's absolutely amazing.
* One woman's WiP show was ruined by a tit with an annoying barking laugh, to the extent that I had to put earplugs in, and he was laughing at weird moments too, like not necessarily at punchlines.  Ten minutes later I see the tit walking about with the performer that I had just seen, so they're a couple.  Great hey?
* Another woman's show was among the worst I've ever seen in the history of Mach.  WiP show mind, so have to give it that caveat, but she'd be better giving up comedy and being a primary school teacher instead.
* Jordan Brookes was good, a daft and perverse mind whose finished show I'd happily stump up the coin to watch.
* Definitely with hummingofevil that John Luke Roberts is at his best off the cuff, rather than a proper show.  Would like to see him compare sometime.
* Was too hungover to enjoy Phil Kay from the front row, and was definitely too hungover to be sat next to an annoying basic woman who kept interrupting the show or turning towards me to make a "cuh! what is he like?" expression and fuck off it's not about you.  Phil Kay's own material is also, sadly, these days a relic of the lads mag age, where comedy racist accents and male entitlement are plentiful.
* Laura Lexx's 'Trying' show was its last outing, and I'm glad I saw it.  She's dead likable, naturally funny, show had plenty of gags and, erm, it's a show about battling for depression and trying for a baby that she can't have and I was there with my childless wife and it's all of a sudden doubly powerful and I know the shit my wife has went through (or at least try to understand to) and christ it's powerful and it's genuinely trying (that word again) for Laura Lexx to perform that section.  Would see her again.
* Marcel Lucont's show was weird for all the reasons stated above, but if anyone from Mach is reading this, do NOT sell any tickets to any singer-songwriters called Solomon.

A note about wankers: didn't seem to be any on Friday or Saturday, but Sunday had loads.  Would love for all shows in future to do a The Stand-style announcement saying "turn your phones off, keep quiet unless spoken to and enjoy the show" before each show.  Might not sush all the wankers but might get some of them.

Hotel booked for 2020 already, so will see y'all then.

Best shows: Lucy Pearman, Lucy Pearman WiP, Glang Show, Seymour Mace and Friends, Luke McQueen, Laura Lexx.

BritishHobo

Aye send us a PM hummingofevil - I'm still paying the £3 subscription fee from back before they raised it, but I'm tempted by their May offer. It might be fun to set a mutual goal of seeing a Welsh-language show next year.

BritishHobo

I really can't rave enough about the Glang lot/Sam and Tom. I feel proper exhilarated by it, the first time you personally discover something that totally chimes with you - like the first time I heard Peacock and Gamble, or my first Brian Gittins Spreaker show. The first time I saw Gittins in Mach and the whole audience just fucking loved every moment. Really exciting. Walking into The Glang Show through the middle of an argument between Sean and Sam ("We can't - look, they're all streaming past." "They're allowed to stream past!"). And I can't stop laughing at the thought of Sam's reaction in his Bedtime show to catching an audience member with the police light. Ditto the Peter Fleming show, which I think has great legs - he could do so much with that.

BritishHobo

Quote from: An Actual Propeller on May 07, 2019, 01:49:11 PM* I went to 17 shows in total, but the two Lucy Pearman ones I saw were the best two shows I saw all weekend.  She's immensely talented, talented to the extent that you feel comedy is lucky to have her.  Every micro-movement, every facial expression, every utterance, the timing, just fucking nailed it, what a gloriously daft and inventive mind, she's absolutely amazing.

I really need to see her, I've read nothing but mad praise for her. Only ever seen her briefly at last year's Glang Show, but she really made me laugh with stuff that, on paper, I wouldn't have expected to like. Same with Sam and Brian Gittins I suppose. The joy of Mach.

Quote from: BritishHobo on May 07, 2019, 05:08:24 PM
Walking into The Glang Show through the middle of an argument between Sean and Sam ("We can't - look, they're all streaming past." "They're allowed to stream past!").

That was brilliant.  They were essentially performing for literally a maximum of four people at a time as we walked through the door.

Sam actually managed to check the IDs of folk before I entered, then:

Sean: "There's no need to ID everybody on the way in."
Sam: "But. . ."
Sean: "They're allowed to be in."


hummingofevil

Quote from: An Actual Propeller on May 07, 2019, 05:30:07 PM
That was brilliant.  They were essentially performing for literally a maximum of four people at a time as we walked through the door.

Sam actually managed to check the IDs of folk before I entered, then:

Sean: "There's no need to ID everybody on the way in."
Sam: "But. . ."
Sean: "They're allowed to be in."

To which Sam replied with:

Sam: "Well what is my purpose then."

Ha ha.

Quote from: hummingofevil on May 07, 2019, 05:58:28 PM
To which Sam replied with:

Sam: "Well what is my purpose then."

Ha ha.

Missed that!  They managed to do an improv comedy routine where only a couple of folk could hear only a few different lines at a time.

hummingofevil

Quote from: An Actual Propeller on May 07, 2019, 06:54:00 PM
Missed that!  They managed to do an improv comedy routine where only a couple of folk could hear only a few different lines at a time.

I was sat at the back and they where chuntering along for a fair while as people where coming in. :)