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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

Small Man Big Horse

I've only seen Huge Davies on a mixed bill but given I really enjoyed him then and love musical comedy, I need to remedy that asap. The same applies with Tothill and especially Jin Hao Li, who has received rave reviews from everyone I know who has seen him.

Ben Volchok - The Ceremony at the Museum Of Comedy - Full disclosure, as I know many here already know, but Ben is a member here and I've met him previously at a CaB meet and consider him a friend. But even if I disliked the man I'd be raving about this, it's one of the best shows I've seen in ages, though really difficult to describe as it changes every single time dependent on audience responses. A very charming, delightful and surprisingly refreshing show, if you're going to Edinburgh I'd class this as an absolute must see. 5/5

Timothy

Will see his show next Thursday at Summerhall. Looking forward to it, sounds excellent.

Small Man Big Horse

I really hope you enjoy it, Ben did stress that it straddles the line between comedy and theatre, but if you go in with no expectations of what it might I can't imagine you not enjoying it!

Caught the following doing half an hour each last night:

Judd Apatow (WIP) at Always Be Comedy, Kennington - Apatow's first ever London show apparently, and much of it was pretty fantastic as he tells stories about the famous people he either knows or has met, and the absurdity of someone like him doing comedy given how he's so rich instead of writing jokes he could just go to Greece. Towards the end there was some material that felt more conventional, and so not quite as fun, but in general it felt like a real treat to see someone of his stature at such a small venue. 4.25/5

Stephen Merchant (WIP) at Always Be Comedy, Kennington - This started with some great material about having laser eye surgery and how he no longer needs glasses, was followed by some quite good stuff about being white and rich, and tall and socially uncomfortable, but also included a hey that's a really old 80's routine about how you only ever take good care of your teeth before a visit to the dentist. He's very broad, and there were a couple of mean jibes where I thought, yeah, I can see why you and Ricky Gervais used to be friends, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I enjoyed the majority of it. 3.75/5


Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: edwardfog on July 23, 2024, 12:19:41 PMWow, ABC scoring some big names

I'd not even heard of them before this year (which seems mad as they've been going for so long) but yeah, they're consistently getting impressive acts now, and gigs often sell out really quickly after the newsletter is sent out.

Tiggles

Olga Koch: Comes From Money preview @ XS Malarkey, Manchester

Koch is brilliant at making trips up to Manchester to do WIP, which is why this is the third time I've seen this show in its evolution. Thank you!

This was the most forensic of all of the iterations I've seen, with Olga clearly in rehearsal mode on structure and content (and she battled valiantly against the distractions of people coming in late and finding their seats - the half hour earlier than usual start time meaning there were quite a few of these). She's smart and witty and charming, and it's packed with very funny jokes. She has a great punchline to pull it all together, too.

But... I'm still not sure why she is doing this show. Kitson has attempted to tackle his feelings about his innate privilege at least a couple of times, but I'm not sure what Olga Koch feels about hers - we mainly learn about it. That's enough, especially with a show this funny, but it's obvious from the way she spent a bit of time talking about previous Q&A sessions with audiences that she wants to get into something a bit more with this.

Anyway, I think she'll still be working this element out as she goes through Edinburgh, and I may well pop in on it again to see if she resolves it.

lankyguy95

Kevin Nealon — 'I Exaggerate' at The Bill Murray

I don't know how long in advance this show had been booked but I only stumbled across it in the listings about a week and a half ago. Kevin said he's only performed here a few times, and I theorise that he's over here on holiday with his family and just decided beforehand to book in a couple of gigs.

Anyway, he's probably my favourite living comic so I couldn't pass up the chance, having also never seen him live. And he was as great as I'd hoped. Part of his appeal is that though brilliantly deadpan, he exudes a uniquely warm, settling charm — he seems like a really lovely guy — and his comic style is so simple and silly and funny. (When, for example, he suddenly distorts his face to anger and says, 'I am livid at the moment...you know how I get,' it's utterly comical.)

As such, there's a great mislead of tension where every setup seems exaggeratedly sincere, the calm atop the surface, with an undercurrent feeling that absolutely nothing he says is or ever could be sincere, leaving a few quiet, uncertain, under-the-breath laughs across the audience during a few of the setups, yet with everyone somehow still buying into it every time. I guess that's the gold of stand-up, to create that somehow sincere, somehow uncertain tension in the setup, rather than for the setup to exist merely as a formulaic bridge for the punchline.

Kevin's comic chops are so sharp that not only is his mislead great but he has the greatest ability to stack four, five, six toppers to a bit, long past the point where most comics would have felt full and moved on, and he did not miss the opportunity to call back and make the joke that bit funnier either; nor the opportunity for a silly 'aside'. ('How am I for time?' after one minute on stage is still tickling me.)

He did about 45 minutes of material — no overarching theme — with brief spots of crowd work, and then showed a few of his caricature paintings from his recent book of the same name, each with a fun and funny story about them (all comics and celebrities he's met across his career). Incidentally, the guy who taught him how to paint caricature is from here and was in the audience, which was sweet.

Just a lovely hour.

Tiggles

A couple more previews at Creatures Comedy last night:

Josh Glanc Very silly fun, with Josh being an entertaining performer of daft songs and daft observations, in rather a daft get-up. I found it a huge amount of fun as a WIP but I'm not sure how I'd feel if the final show didn't have a bit more to it. Having said that, his charm fully won me over and I laughed a lot. Which is one of the best things you can say about any comedy show.

This was followed by Elf Lyons and her show 'Horses'. It'll surprise zero people who know her work this is another unsettling, artistically ambitious experimental piece that demands quite a lot from the audience (including more than a passing familiarity with Greek mythology). I think it is about trying to reconnect with the sense of play we have as children, a call to live in the present. It's dark, funny in parts, provocative and, in its current form, includes a bit of audience participation. And as usual it's performed with all the imaginative physical grace and weirdness that you'd expect.

Elf is still working on this - among other things, the technical cues are fairly complicated and it would have been easy to get lost (and I think some people in the audience were obviously checking their phones, from what she said, but I couldn't see it). I think that when she's got the pieces to fall in place it's going to be unmissable.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Tiggles on July 25, 2024, 06:25:38 PMThis was followed by Elf Lyons and her show 'Horses'. It'll surprise zero people who know her work this is another unsettling, artistically ambitious experimental piece that demands quite a lot from the audience (including more than a passing familiarity with Greek mythology). I think it is about trying to reconnect with the sense of play we have as children, a call to live in the present. It's dark, funny in parts, provocative and, in its current form, includes a bit of audience participation. And as usual it's performed with all the imaginative physical grace and weirdness that you'd expect.

Elf is still working on this - among other things, the technical cues are fairly complicated and it would have been easy to get lost (and I think some people in the audience were obviously checking their phones, from what she said, but I couldn't see it). I think that when she's got the pieces to fall in place it's going to be unmissable.

That's fascinating to read as I saw an early work in progress last September and part of it was all about her agent wanting her to do more conventional comedy, so half the show was stand up featuring stories about her unusual Gran, her melodramatic mother and her seemingly lovely husband, before the second was more character based and much stranger. But it sounds like from the above she's decided to ignore her agent, and just do the show which feels right for her, which I think is absolutely the right decision as Elf is so amazing, and I just hope financially it works out too.

Tiggles

Yes! I saw her do a set last year that was about trying to do conventional stuff... but 'Horses' isn't that. It involves dance and mime and confusion. Thank goodness.

imitationleather

Now I'm living back in that big city called London after nearly nine years away I'm keen to go and see comedy regularly. I've been going quite a bit, but is there anywhere online to easily find out what is coming up? I need to fill up those long, lonely evenings with something!

Msp1976

Quote from: imitationleather on July 26, 2024, 09:36:11 AMNow I'm living back in that big city called London after nearly nine years away I'm keen to go and see comedy regularly. I've been going quite a bit, but is there anywhere online to easily find out what is coming up? I need to fill up those long, lonely evenings with something!

I'd sign up to some of the comedy venues mailing lists. The Bill Murray and Soho Theatre aren't a bad place to start. You can get early notifications of shows if you sign up to the BM Patreon or as a ST member. 

Tiggles

Additionally - some of this will be easier than others depending on your location , but you can sign up to Always Be Comedy, Up the Creek (the Sunday night tends to be the best), Knock2bag lists as well (or follow their socials). Museum of Comedy does stuff too.

imitationleather

Thank you for the suggestions, my dear friends. I'll get on to those!

edwardfog

Chortle has a listings function where you can select London and a particular date on the calendar, and it shows you what's on. It doesn't have everything but it's the closest thing we've got to a one-stop shop

lauraxsynthesis


Red82

I don't really get out and about and see acts.  But from my online sleuthing the Irish Lady who has been touring the USA with Fern Brady seems pretty cool.  I was watching an interview with her on politicsJoe. A pretty trag, deso life whilst being relatable and cool and interesting and different.  She has a memoir that I've wishlisted as a potential interesting read also.

She's probably old news to you cool London Types on here but... anyway her name is...Marise Gaughan

Small Man Big Horse

Was just going to recommend 2Northdown as another great venue, but then:



I mean I knew about the Chortle story and their parent company /21Soho not paying acts*, but I thought that might have been resolved now, but having just seen the above I discovered a follow up story** and presumably it's only a matter of time before both close their doors for good.

*https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2024/03/08/55139/21soho_boss_vows%3A_comedians_will_get_paid

**https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2024/06/10/55787/pay_us_now%2C_comics_demand

Quote from: Red82 on July 26, 2024, 06:56:11 PMI don't really get out and about and see acts.  But from my online sleuthing the Irish Lady who has been touring the USA with Fern Brady seems pretty cool.  I was watching an interview with her on politicsJoe. A pretty trag, deso life whilst being relatable and cool and interesting and different.  She has a memoir that I've wishlisted as a potential interesting read also.

She's probably old news to you cool London Types on here but... anyway her name is...Marise Gaughan

I'd not heard of her before but will definitely keep an eye out for any post Edinburgh shows, thanks for the recommendation.

Memorex MP3

Natalie Palamides - Weer

This was mostly really great and felt a lot more ambitious than Nate. There were a few bits that were maybe a bit too similar to bits in Nate but they still got big laughs including from me so I dunno
Several production aspects messed up; repeatedly getting the wrong volume for music was the most egregious and a few things got lost on stage. I got the impression it was a bad night but I still liked it a lot.

Show overran by like 10 minutes and the ending felt very rushed (what even was the final gag with the mannequin meant to be ?).
Whether it was an especially bad night with issues or not she looked properly angry and stressed at the end about the runtime and I imagine that will continue into at least the first week of the fringe if she needs to pack it into an hour


Daniel Kitson - Collaborator
We went to the wrong venue

WestHill

Thanks for the Weer review- looking forward to seeing it. The run time is 1hr 15m in Edinburgh so hopefully it can breathe a bit.

Timothy

Quote from: Memorex MP3 on July 27, 2024, 06:12:11 PMNatalie Palamides - Weer

This was mostly really great and felt a lot more ambitious than Nate. There were a few bits that were maybe a bit too similar to bits in Nate but they still got big laughs including from me so I dunno
Several production aspects messed up; repeatedly getting the wrong volume for music was the most egregious and a few things got lost on stage. I got the impression it was a bad night but I still liked it a lot.

Show overran by like 10 minutes and the ending felt very rushed (what even was the final gag with the mannequin meant to be ?).
Whether it was an especially bad night with issues or not she looked properly angry and stressed at the end about the runtime and I imagine that will continue into at least the first week of the fringe if she needs to pack it into an hour


Daniel Kitson - Collaborator
We went to the wrong venue

How was the audience participation? Curious to see it in Edinburgh but not a huge fan of interaction.

Memorex MP3

Quote from: Timothy on July 27, 2024, 08:14:53 PMHow was the audience participation? Curious to see it in Edinburgh but not a huge fan of interaction.
Very little compared to Nate imo; I would say the front row bits contain stuff you'd want to avoid unless you like showing off in front of an audience; I don't mind audience participation but I'd have hated it

The only non front row bit I can remember was fairly tame but seemed to have some technical issues (they had to recite a script over a piece but the audio was mixed way too low)


An hour fifteen seems pretty doable; an hour was hard to imagine given the narrative and how aggressively it'd need to be cut down


imitationleather

I'm off to see Elf Lyons do Horses at Clapham Omnibus this evening. I hope that a good time will be had by all. But particularly me.

flotemysost

Quote from: Memorex MP3 on July 27, 2024, 06:12:11 PMNatalie Palamides - Weer

This was mostly really great and felt a lot more ambitious than Nate. There were a few bits that were maybe a bit too similar to bits in Nate but they still got big laughs including from me so I dunno
Several production aspects messed up; repeatedly getting the wrong volume for music was the most egregious and a few things got lost on stage. I got the impression it was a bad night but I still liked it a lot.

Saw this with zero prior knowledge of Palamides (I have yet to watch Nate/anything else by her) and I really rated it. Agree that some of the technical fuckups were unfortunate (the mic not working for the audience member who got asked to read out the letter - and them subsequently just giving up - was a shame, as I'm guessing we lost a few gags there), and as you say she did seem a tad flustered by it all. Thought she styled out some of the set/prop mishaps well though, and played into the general chaos of it.

That aside, massively in awe of the bold concept, physical/vocal stamina, and sheer gutsiness of it. Loved the improvised/audience interaction element too - the people who got picked on that night seemed a little reticent maybe, which I guess perhaps steers the energy of it a bit, but she seems an assured enough performer to weave whatever's thrown at her into the narrative pretty deftly.

Quote from: Memorex MP3 on July 27, 2024, 06:12:11 PMShow overran by like 10 minutes and the ending felt very rushed (what even was the final gag with the mannequin meant to be ?).

I assumed it was meant to be
Spoiler alert
the boyfriend character going down on the girlfriend when she's on her period
[close]
but I couldn't see all that much detail, as I (a shortarse) was in the stalls and there was someone really tall in the row in front - think some of the other visual gags were lost on me for that reason. Agree re: the ending feeling a *bit* dragged out/superfluous - there were a few moments before then that felt like natural end points.

Kinda tempted to see this at the Fringe next month to see how it's shaped up, either way definitely gonna be hard recommending to the mates I'm going with.


imitationleather

Quote from: imitationleather on July 28, 2024, 05:38:42 PMI'm off to see Elf Lyons do Horses at Clapham Omnibus this evening. I hope that a good time will be had by all. But particularly me.

This was absolutely mad. I loved it!

Feeling a bit stumped about how to describe it to people though.

edwardfog

Brynley Stent's show at Soho Theatre is very good. Another multimedia/songs/slideshow kind of thing about not getting any action. Very enjoyable evening

Mobbd

Saw Chris Thorburn in Glasgow recently. He does a song called "Breakfast at Tiffany's but Other Six-Syllable Movies." Made us larf. He put it online:

@chris_thorburn

 

Small Man Big Horse

Just catching up with some short reviews of shows I saw while taking time off work...

Nic Sampson: Yellow Power Ranger at Park Theatre - Based around the fact that as a teenager  Sampson was in a Power Rangers series (Mystic Force, as it goes) most of this is a clearly fictional show with the idea that it was the highlight of his career and now he spends his life doing conventions and the occasional advert and is sick to death of such an existence. That's led him to write the script for a movie, and now he's trying get the gang back together for a convention appearance, and also finally seduce an actor he fancied at the time. I was onboard for the vast majority of this and there's some really funny clips of the show plus other multimedia silliness, and while a couple of bits felt a bit shoehorned in (the reading of a novel he'd written was oddly sub Garth Marenghi), most of this was a delight. 4.25/5

Alice Sneddon (WIP) - Alice talks about the four years she spent away performing comedy (which felt a bit disingenuous as I saw her as part of the improv group Snort back in 2022), but now she's returning to the industry with a new show which revolves around how she hates to admit that she's ever wrong, her new relationship, and what happened when her car was stolen. I was a big fan of this and thought Sneddon was on fantastic form throughout, she's the kind of act who I instantly felt in safe hands with, and it was a great show with some big laughs. 4.25/5

Emma Sidi Is Sue Grey at the Seven Dials Playhouse - I saw this as it was part of a double bill of Edinburgh previews, and I have to admit I wasn't particularly looking forward to it as the idea of taking a briefly famous individual and then portraying them in a completely inaccurate way seemed like a joke which would run out of steam all too quickly. But it it did make me laugh a fair bit, there's a lot of absurdly daft moments, Sidi briefly breaks character a couple of times to reassure the audience she knows how bizarre the whole thing is, and even despite some seemingly pointless audience participation it all somehow came together to make a very enjoyable show. 4/5

Paul Williams - Mamiya 7 (WIP) at the Seven Dials Playhouse - Okay, so this is going to be a weirdly personal response to this, and I know before typing it out that it's not a fair review, but I can't help but state that I was disappointed by aspects of the show. And that's because I loved the soft, gentle and sweet natured persona Williams's has cultivated in Taskmaster NZ, his previous solo hour, and the three albums he's so far released, and I discovered the latter fairly early on during the pandemic and in an anxiety filled time I found them incredibly soothing, and they helped me get though what was a pretty horrible time. But this show breaks with that persona at times, and maybe it's only on a few occasions, but it was enough to create this weird situation where I found myself laughing a lot, but then wincing and not liking how he sometimes came across. The main example of this is a song about Roe Vs Wade and Paul supposedly not knowing what an abortion is, and so while women can't have abortions "he and his boys won't have abortions too", and that felt off, while there was a paedophile joke later on that felt a bit shit as well. It's a much more absurd, sillier show than the last one, and it is packed with some really funny moments, I'd say for most people it'd be a four star show for sure, even while it's pretty messy at this point, but it's shown me an aspect of his comedy that I just really didn't like. So, um, yeah, 4/5 for anyone who's not as mental as I am, 3.5/5 for anyone who is.

TheDreamIsOver

I saw Emma Sidi do a very early WIP version of the Sue Grey show at Mach a few years ago, it was very topical then. It was a mixed-billed show with Rose Matafeo so the Sue Grey aspect wasn't advertised, I think she revealed who she was meant to be about 10-15 minutes in and it was possibly the hardest I laughed all weekend