You wouldn’t normally review a comic on their first gig, but then normal rules don’t seem to apply to Lembit Opik
A shiny brogue appropriated as a ventriloquist’s dummy, a media scrum, a lingerie model “girlfriend” and Stephen Pound MP boisterously approving from the front row. Yes, former MP Lembit Opik’s first foray into stand-up comedy has again shown that eccentricity follows him around like a heat-seeking Cheeky Girl. (more…)
Miles Jupp takes to Soho Theatre the true tale of how he blagged his way into his dream job – international cricket correspondent. Can he make a story about cricket funny, asks Paul Fleckney?
Given the number of people who regard cricket as a massive waste of time, it’s a pretty bold move to do an hour’s comedy show on it. But in front of an audience pretty much split 50:50 between cricket fans and non-cricket fans, Miles Jupp proves he has written a gem that appeals to both.Indeed, Fibber in the Heat displays the characteristics of an innings by Jupp’s all-time cricketing hero, former England captain Mike Atherton: disciplined, displaying rigorous technique, the odd easy target swotted away with aplomb, tantalising glimpses of flair, and all-in-all a pretty gripping journey. The main difference is that FitH is funny (there’s nothing funny about a gruelling Athers rearguard action). (more…)
Ben Clover finds a rare instance of a heckle spoiling more than one show, in watching Alun Cochrane’s Life, Jokes, and Jokes About Life.
I’m not sure Stewart Lee hasn’t warped a generation of stand-ups.So authoritative is the Walsall funnyman’s recent book featuring his shows and comment thereon, that you can already see its effect on other comics. Of late, the most conspicuous influence Lee has on comics is the running commentary on how a show is going. (more…)
Ben Clover finds Stewart Lee’s Vegetable Stew a little more silly and a little less ranty than usual, but no less precise.
Stewart Lee isn’t going to let something like gravity interfere with his act. Near the start of Vegetable Stew he says it isn’t a show with an arc like previous 60-minuters, but it’s still done with such precision that midway, after taking a gulp of water, he puts the bottle ba (more…)Last year he produced a superb and touching show about the moon landing, and he is about to be support act on Angelos’s UK tour – but is Nick Mohammed’s latest show up to scratch? Ben Clover finds out.
I’m a newcomer to the Twitter and radio sensation that is Mr Swallow and was a latecomer to this particular show. But you get the idea pretty quick: gifted character comic Nick Mohammed’s creation is a lifestyle guru who’s going to teach us all to improve our memories. (more…)You want laughter from the belly and the brain? Try the latest show by young grump Jon Richardson, writes Ben Clover.
To call this show a rueful meditation on what it means to be happy would be inaccurate. It’s Jon Richardson relating a series of embarrassing anecdotes that mostly reflect poorly on him and a Premiership footballer mutilation fantasy that doesn’t. (more…)
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