Al Pitcher @ Pyramid Arts Centre, Warrington – 24th October 2009

October 25, 2009 2 Comments

Al Pitcher @ Pyramid

Apologies for the awful photo - it was the only one that I got.

I was looking around on Chortle on the day of the gig, and happened to see a big advert for ‘The Al Pitcher Picture Show’, with lots of good reviews, and I took this to be a good omen.

There were about 30-40 people in the audience and the show was ably started by the support act, Danny Mcloughlin.  He chatted pretty amiably with the audience, with the notable exception of the nuclear physicist on the front row, who didn’t want to play.  With a small audience, I think that a few people felt exposed.  Which is why I was sat at the back.

The show itself is based on such a great concept that I can’t believe more comedians aren’t doing something similar.  Al goes around the town where the show is to take place and takes loads of photos, then the gig is largely based on them.  What it may have lacked in slickness was more than made up for in the highly personalised nature of the material – how often do you get to see a comedy routine on the wonders of Warrington town centre?  It also helped that the Kiwi comic was a funny and engaging performer.  The show ended with a bit of graffiti that he found on a wall: all I can say is that Emma Carruthers is a very naughty girl.

At the end of the gig, he took a photo of the audience to put on to Facebook.  This has always slightly baffled me; are you supposed to add them as a friend or just their fan page?  The fan page doesn’t seem to have the photos from all the gigs on there, but adding a comedian as a friend seems to be an awful invasion of privacy.  Or maybe I’m just being weird about the whole thing.  I’d also like to point out that I would have behaved ‘wacky’ for the audience photo, but I didn’t think the camera was pointing at me.  These new-fangled modern cameras and their not-pointing-at-you lens.

My only criticism of the gig is that more people didn’t turn up.  I don’t know what it says about the town as a whole that only 40 people out of 200,000 made the effort.  That said, those who did show up had a great night’s entertainment and really enjoyed themselves.

I’d urge you to go and see one of these one-off gigs if you get the chance to…. especially if it’s somewhere that you live.

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The Comedy Store @ Pyramid Arts Centre, Warrington – 3rd October 2009

October 4, 2009 2 Comments

The Comedy Store, Warrington 03\109

It’s my second Comedy Store @ Warrington in a row, and, compared to last month the night felt completely different, and not in a good way.  The MC for the evening was Silky, which is his name and not how he felt (although I didn’t touch him, so maybe he does feel silky, and that’s how he got the name).  He kicked off the evening while seemingly half the audience hadn’t taken their seats and, although he was funny, a large section of the audience didn’t seem to realise that they were at a comedy gig.  The gig was apparently sold out, but there didn’t seem to be much of an atmosphere in the room.  It’s hard to get much of an atmosphere when large chunks of the audience didn’t seem to be paying attention.  It was really quite odd.

The first act on was Toby Hadoke who, because of his laid back style, struggled a bit with the crowd, and you couldn’t really blame him.  There was an unbelievable stream of latecomers pouring in throughout his set and and an even more unbelievable number of people were deciding to pop in and out of the venue willy nilly.  The portion of the audience that had originally not twigged that they were at a comedy gig still seemed to be in the dark.  Things were being disrupted so much that perhaps the theatre staff should just close the doors at a certain point and stop people coming in and out.  It wouldn’t be right for me to pass any kind of judgement on Hadoke under the circumstances, and I’d be intrigued to see him in a setting where he could actually get in to his flow.

Luckily, the next act on was Steve Royle whose high energy, slapstick delivery was just what was needed to beat the audience in to submission.   His set was quite wacky and fairly mainstream for a Comedy Store act, but he was very funny and delivered some big laughs.  He even did some juggling, which sounds really naff, but it really got the crowd in to it.

After the interval, Silky came back out to try and perform a couple of musical numbers, which were actually very good.  It kind of spoilt it though that most of the front three rows of were conspicuous by their absence and it took them a good 10 minutes to drift back in.  What was everybody doing out there?

The headline act for the evening was Carey Marx, who had a nice line in offensive comedy that certainly held the attention.  I’m not easily shocked, by any means, but there were a few moments where I thought he perhaps crossed the line.  There’s a real balancing act between being ‘ironically offensive’ and just being old-fashioned offensive to get cheap laughs.  That said, I did enjoy his routine about the use of the word ‘cunt’ and there was a girl a few rows in front of me that was really squirming every time he said it.  He was definitely a funny guy and I’d like to see him again.

Despite the disruption, it ended up being another entertaining night.  It’s not really for me to dictate how people spend their nights out, but I’m curious why you’d go to a comedy gig if you weren’t really interesting in watching the comedy.

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The Comedy Store @ Pyramid Arts Centre, Warrington – 5th September 2009

September 6, 2009 2 Comments

Comedy Store Ticket 050909

Comedy gigs are like buses, you wait…on second thoughts, I won’t complete that thought.  Friday night was Tim Minchin and last night it was the turn of the monthly The Comedy Store at Warrington’s glorious Pyramid Arts Centre.  I say monthly, but it goes on hiatus over the summer, presumably because of Edinburgh, and this was the first one
back after the break.

Despite going to nearly every other comedy show that they put on, this is the first time that I’ve been to The Comedy Store in over three years.  There’s no logical reason for this, so if any psychologists are reading, I’d love to hear your theories on why this might be so.

The MC for the evening was Michael Smiley, who I recognised from somewhere, but I didn’t know where.  Having checked on Wikipedia, I realise it’s because he played Tyres in classic sitcom, Spaced. This only endears him to me more.  He did an admirable job of warming up the audience, even though he couldn’t get any flow going, with latecomers interrupting him for a full fifteen minutes after the show had started.

The first half of the show had sets from Roger Monkhouse and Gordon Southern, both of whom sound more like bank managers than comedians.  I’d heard of Monkhouse before, but only because every time I’ve been on The Comedy Store web-site, he was listed to perform.  I don’t think I’d seen anything of Gordon Southern before, although his face was familiar, and you can’t be sure in this day and age.  Both were good solid professionals, which sort of erroneously sounds like I’m damning them with faint praise, but it’s actually a compliment.  It’s a testament to them that the first half of the show flew by.  It obviously didn’t go quick enough for those desperate to get to the bar, many people left while Smiley was still wrapping up before the interval.

The second half of the show got of to a great start with Smiley ripping in to a guy on the front row, who had garnered a lot of stick from all the comedians so far.  If you’re going to be awkward, why would you choose to sit on the front row of a comedy gig? He was probably a masochist.   The headline act for the evening was Sarah Millican, who won best newcomer at the 2008 Edinburgh festival (and also provides voices to BBC1′s Saturday tea-time, Walk on the Wild Side).  She was someone who I’d wanted to see live for a while, so it was a big bonus to see her on the bill, and she didn’t disappoint.  She had the audience in the palm of her hand, and her set was hilarious.

And then, that was it.  The two hours seemed to disappear, which can only been seen as a good sign, and the audience seemed to really enjoy it.  If you’re in the Warrington area, it’s a highly recommended night out, and you should give it a try; it’s a bargain at £13.

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Tim Minchin @ Parr Hall, Warrington – 4th September 2009

September 5, 2009 12 Comments

Tim Minchin at the Parr Hall

It’s been over two months since I’d last been to see any live comedy, so I was more than ready for Tim Minchin’s show ‘Ready For This?’, last night.  I’d not seen much of Minchin before, and didn’t entirely know what to expect, other than his act largely relying on comic songs.  Comedy music is notoriously difficult to pull off, with Bill Bailey and Flight of the Conchords being notable exceptions, but since Minchin is so widely acclaimed, I went in with an open mind.

His entrance, to the accompaniment of a booming rock track, left me a little non-plussed, while other sections in the audience were in near rapture.  His first full song, whilst funny, contained a twist that you could see coming a mile off, yet many in the audience gasped with delight.  I wondered if I had come to the right show.

I needn’t have worried, as the show immediately picked up from there, and I was left dazzled by the sheer talent of the man.  He managed to seamlessly combine stand up, music and poetry so well that it made me seethe with jealously.  Luckily, Tim is incredibly likeable, and sprinkled his set so liberally with anti-religious and pro-science material, that maintaining my envy became too much effort.  The highlight ,for me, was a 9-minute beat poem about critical thinking, which was a masterclass in performance and memory.  It also destroyed many of the arguments used by proponents of alternative medicine with such good humour, that even they would feel churlish in objecting to it.

The only slight downside to the evening was the large proportion of the audience that were Minchin groupies, who greeted each song with such a ruckus that it made me feel like I was intruding on somebody’s private party.  Also, a similar demographic within the crowd laughed so orgasmically at everything he said, that I felt guilty when I only chuckled.  I guess it is ultimately a tribute to the man for inspiring such a dedicated following.

The show ended with an emotional encore, followed by an enthusiastic standing ovation, the best reaction I’ve seen a performer get at any of the gigs I’ve been to.  You can only imagine Mr Minchin going on to greater success, and with the rumours of a HBO TV series, I felt lucky to have had the chance to see him at such an intimate venue.

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Wall Of Wonder

May 28, 2009 2 Comments

In order to give you an insight to the way my mind works, I humbly present my wall of wonder (i.e. the bit of wall next to my desk at work):

The Wall of Wonder

Key:

1. The business card of Mr. Shaun Kelly, probably the best project manager in the world.  It’s a personal souvenir that I cherish.

2. A lovely collage I created from stuff lurking around on my desk.  It includes photographs of Ric Flair, The Hoff and Barry from Eastenders among other stuff.  It’s also covered in coffee, chocolate and coke stains which are there more because I’m a mucky pup rather than for any artistic reasons.

3. A photo of ‘cheeky chappy’ Shaun Costello bearing his catchphrase, “Ooh, I’ve done a bit of a naughty”.

4. The wrapper of an Orbit Complete chewing gum self-laminated using sellotape. There’s no particular reason why I did that.

5. A photo of Joanne sticking her tongue out.

6. A free CD of Cliff Richard celebrating 50 years in show business. He just looks so good for his age, apparently.

7. A print out of a google search for famous Crows. Remarkably, Goot came higher that Sheryl and Russell.

8. A cartoon of Carlos Tevez that I accidentally drew.

9. Nicole, first baby of ITSU.

10. Girls Aloud in school uniform.  Laminated for the girls’ protection.

11. Ticket for “Paul Todd – A Christmas Concert”, last year at Warrington’s Parr Hall

12. The original design for the Pink Panties aftershave bottle.

13. A photo of Wolf (the Gladiator) and Timmy Mallett…together!

14. Flyer for ‘Legends of the Oche’, at Warrington’s Parr Hall.  Why did some darts players get Duncan Norvelle involved? It remains a mystery.

15.  Advert for the pub, The Old Crow. Part of an ongoing investigation in to Goot Crow Industries.

16. A Grange Hill-style blazer badge that I designed just in case I ever run my own school. 

17. The original template for the Andy Rutter’s Stag Do T-shirts. Legendary.

18. The Paul Todd shrine, wheeled out every time he is on leave.

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