Ed Gamble was the warm-up man and he was pretty lightweight if I am honest. I might not have been any worse. Danny Bhoy surprised me by being a Scot and he was ok, although he wasn't laugh-out-loud funny and relied upon reciting cleverly written letters to various people in the style of Henry Root. Still, we had the big two to come.
Tony Law is a quirky Canadian who just about earned his salt, although he was nowhere close to Tom Stade, his countryman, who did the same slot last year and had me in tears. To the main event then, and Sean Lock was funny but wasn't quite as polished and well conceived an act as I had hoped for. To be fair, it must be hard for him to do the best part of an hour without straying back into well-known TV material and to his credit he didn't do this once to my knowledge. His routine was, however, all over the place and the gags weren't as quick or an incisive as Mr Flanagan.
Still, it was good to see friends and you have to make an effort to do these things when they come along or you risk turning into a right boring git! Ok, ok...
Was there last night and at the Micky Flanagan event last year and I pretty much agree with you on most counts.
ReplyDeleteThought Ed Gamble was poor and only regained some credibilty once he was heckled. Liked Danny Bhoy especially the old skool telephone gag. Thought Tony Law was very funny and different but the act ran out of steam.
Mr Lock cancelled last year so I was really looking forward to last night. I ended up disappointed. He did recycle some '8 out of 10' gags and rambled a few times. It was obviously new material night for him. Can't complain when you get four comics for £25 I guess. Can complain about a £5 for a bottle of Mean Time beer though! Not as if there were transport costs to incur!
Dave, last year you noted you enjoyed Canadian comedian Tom Stade and this year, fellow countryman, Tony Law. Interestingly, they seem totally unknown in this country.
ReplyDeleteCanada has contributed a hugely disproportionate number of comedians to the world (Jim Carrey, Rich Little, Russel Peters,David Steinberg, Lorne Michaels (creater of Saturday Night Live), Wayne & Shuster, Seth Rogan, Martin Short, Dan Ackroyd, Mike Myers, John Candy, Howie Mandel, Eugene Levy, Phil Hartman, Catharine O'Hara, Tom Green, Leslie Nielsen, Norm MacDonald........it goes on and on. It must be our long winters!
There are hoards of Canadian stand-up comedians working the comedy clubs, corporate events and the like and yet if you check the lists, Stade and Law are names that are missing. It is great they are carving out a career in the UK, but surprisingly, we hear nothing of them.
We took in a concert by Danny Bhoy a couple of months ago and the mostly ex-pat or Scottish rooted audience loved him! He is charming, rather than abrasive and does capture the Scottish spirit, even if he is 50% Indian.
Best regards,
Bob Miller
Stevo - us, good value at £25 . You should be grateful you didn't have to buy the round I did for ten. Fifty quid for average products served in plastic cups after a ten minute queue. If only we weren't borderline alcoholics....
ReplyDeleteHey Bob - I should have anticipated your post! Maybe the second raters have less chance at home and need to try abroad? Tony Law certainly had a unique style, which will hel him. I will certainly listen to him again. I can imagine Danny Bhoy going down well in New Scotland. "Charming" is a very good description.
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