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    One Touch Comedy Corner

    The "theatre" thread has reminded me that, along with "Radio", we haven't got a couple of dedicated fora for non-Film, TV, Music and Books pastimes.

    Anyway, I will kick this off by saying that I just about managed to get a couple of gigs in during the Bath Comedy Festival - mainly as there were two on the same night in the same venue.

    The first one was a, I assume, work in progress gig from Hardeep Singh Kohli. Now I love him on Radio 4 and TV but have never seen anything of him live, I think, certainly not for a while. He was very different from his avuncular radio-TV image, almost instantly bringing in spikier material slagging off Adrian Chiles and doing a "Brown people do this..." type element. Initially, I thought he was pissed off about playing a relatively small gig in a revamped social club to about 100 people. However, his sincere thanks to all those involved at the end suggested otherwise. I think that he was going out of his way to put a distance between "live" and "radio/TV". He made a point of saying that those used to him on the One Show must be surprised by his swearing.

    He even managed to have someone walk out - after some heckling - early on with a, let's say, questionable Operation Yewtree joke. His material was along the lines of of the observational "What's that about" arena and there were some familiar tropes - British ex-pats abroad, growing up in an ethnic minority family in the 70s etc. There were 4 Sikh girls sitting right in front of him which mean that he could interact with them in a funny if sometimes impenetrable way but, as he pointed out, that is what it is like for Indians listening to an English comedian. At the end of the day, I laughed and it was well worth £12 for an hour's set. I wonder what his more polished stand-up set is like.

    After him was a German stand-up called Paco Erhard who had a show called "The Worst German" which didn't inspire me as there appeared to be a lot of shows called "Crap at being Irish" and whatnot.Also, in his blurb, it had the "Bill Hicks mxed with...." description which makes one's heart sink. I, very unfairly, was compared him to Henning Wehn for the first 10 minutes. He went on to actually deserve the Hicks comparison by addressing nationalism, anti-immigration and stereotyping in a reasonably original and challenging manner. He also addressed the ludicrousness of sex and even had a smoking schtick that, happily, didn't evoke Hicks or, worse, Leary.

    It felt like he was going out and giving us his best show while Singh Kohli felt a bit more improv/riffing "warm-up to Edinburgh" style. Also, at £8 for a show that I laughed at more, Erhard won out. However, £20 for 2 good comedians shows why comedy can be one of the best nights out.

    #2
    One Touch Comedy Corner

    I once went to see (with my then-girlfriend, who was a fellow John Shuttleworth worshipper) an evening of comics at The Comedy Store on the basis that Graham Fellows was showing off one of his other (then new) creations - Brian Appleton - there, as the first act on the bill. We'd bought our tickets on that premise alone. As it was, the evening turned out to be compered by Rich Hall, who was fantastic, with the other main acts being Mark Thomas (okay), Phil Jupitus (stoned and shit!) and the 'secret special guest' headliner being Al Murray as The Pub Landlord (who was mind-blowingly superb).

    So, yes - comedy evenings can be great fun. On the other hand, there's 'open mic nights', which are routinely tragic.

    The funniest act I've ever seen live was actually John Otway at Aldershot West End Centre. Allegedly, though, if you tell Otway you thought he was funny, he doesn't like it very much and takes umbrage.

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      #3
      Did anyone watch the 2022 BBC New Comedy Awards? We blitzed the full series in Christmas week. Have to say I was really impressed with the standard this year, definitely a few with the potential to go on to big things. Loved Dee Allum's bit on the HR manager dealing with her coming out as trans, and Marjolein Robertson's brilliantly unnerving weirdness, but my goodness the explosion of energy that was the winner Dan Tiernan was quite a thing to behold. Hope they all start touring more extensively soon.

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        #4
        Netflix's The Stand Ups is a more miss than hit for me but I would recommend the episode with Nate Bargatze. He also has two specials on Netflix but watch the Stand Ups episode first because he introduces his trip to "the serpentarium" and then updates the story in one of the comedy specials.

        There are also two recent specials on Netflix by Tom Papa and I found them very funny. His basic message is that you're doing well just being alive because life is basically shit and just coping is hard, which sounds like it would be depressing but I found it cheered me up a bit.
        Last edited by Patrick Thistle; 14-01-2023, 11:20.

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          #5
          We also watched Trevor Noah's special on Netflix, which was OK but occasionally a bit dull. However his bit about how covid was like an evil genie granting people their wishes was absolutely spot on and made us laugh a lot.

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            #6
            I'm always a bit reluctant to delve into those Netflix ones, particularly the US output. All seems very.... male. I certainly wouldn't write off all American male comics – Alex Edelman is extremely funny if you can track down any of his stuff (think he might have a special on Netflix) – but I'm definitely not keen on the brash big beasts, which I feel is what Netflix seems to push the most. The North American comic I've enjoyed the most in recent years is Mae Martin, creator and star of the series Feel Good – would love to see them live.

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              #7
              Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
              OK but occasionally a bit dull.
              To be fair, that's on his business card.

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                #8
                Jobi1 we have started several and given up on them. I've only recommended the ones that have passed the Mrs Thistle test. If they get her to laugh out loud then they're good.

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                  #9
                  Living in Edinburgh we’re in a bit of a privileged position for live comedy, with half the comedy world turning up in August (with the disadvantage that, half the actual world turning up too). Also have the handy benefit of The Stand being a bit of a performers’ favourite so get a lot of work in progress gigs and tour stops that the size of the venue probably wouldn’t normally justify.

                  During the festival we tend to get to a couple of dozen shows but a minor covid outbreak in the house meant we were limited to three last August. Tim Vine as he’s always gentle night out, Ivo Graham as he was on straight after Tim Vine in the same venue and had tickets left and The Listies who we’ve seen before and are excellent (they’re aimed at primary aged kids, but I’ve always been happy to see them).

                  Actually one of my favourite thing to do in the festival is the comedy club for kids every afternoon, where you turn up not knowing who’s on. Usually 4 comics, half of them usually specialist kids comedians but the best ones are the “adult” acts either bored in the afternoon or wanting to see if they can tweak their act for under 14s. Some are excellent at it, some fall apart

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                    #10
                    I can see thr challenge trying to make kids laugh with actual jokes. Challenging audience.

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                      #11
                      First live gig of the year tonight – local lad Richard Stott. Perhaps not riotously funny but very enjoyable nonetheless. Good bits on mental health and disability (his own, not any kind of punching down!).

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                        I can see thr challenge trying to make kids laugh with actual jokes. Challenging audience.
                        I've tried to imagine a stand-up routine for under 14s, but all I can envisage is a Homer Simpson / Rik out of the Young Ones hybrid going "So, Paw Patrol, right? What's that all about???" and completely dying on his arse.

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                          #13
                          I watched Ricky Gervais' show on Netflix with my wife the other day. After about three minutes we'd had enough.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                            Netflix's The Stand Ups is a more miss than hit for me but I would recommend the episode with Nate Bargatze. He also has two specials on Netflix but watch the Stand Ups episode first because he introduces his trip to "the serpentarium" and then updates the story in one of the comedy specials.
                            I love Bargatze, I was going to recommend him when I saw this post. He has a new special that is on Amazon Prime, but I didn't like it as much as his previous ones. For me his funniest bit is his struggles ordering in Starbucks.

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                              #15
                              At the O2 to see Randy Feltface. What do you mean, "never heard of him?" Look him up.

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                                #16
                                That was an hour long masterclass in storytelling, with the added bonus of being fucking hilarious. Seriously, if Randy is playing your town, go and see him.

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                                  #17
                                  Nate Bargatze sold out in London. Still tickets for Tom Papa but that's on Good Friday and I don't know if I want to be travelling that weekend.

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                                    #18
                                    Saw Sara Pascoe at Hull City Hall tonight – very entertaining, but quite unusual in the sense of there was almost no audience interaction, not even the token "How are you doing?" at the start of the set, just a remark on how nice the building was and then straight into the material. Perhaps not a surprise on this evidence that one of her TV enterprises has been "Comedians Giving Lectures", as this definitely had a bit of that vibe about it. It wasn't packed with belly laughs, and we wondered if she might actually have benefitted from having a support act to wake the crowd up a bit as it did seem to take a little while to get going. But nonetheless a very enjoyable show. Nice touch that she had someone with her doing a sign language interpretation as well.

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                                      #19
                                      Went to see Sophie Duker in one of the small rooms in the labyrinthine Hull City Hall, and she was absolutely wonderful. Her current show is built around family relationships and journeys (metaphorical and literal), well worth catching if she's coming to a venue near you on this run.

                                      Slightly surprised (disappointed?) that while she was not filling this small suite, another comedian who'd I'd genuinely never even heard of (Paul Smith?) was doing the first of two sold out nights in the 1,200-capacity main hall. Judging (in every sense) by the state of the crowd waiting outside the main hall entrance when we arrived, I'm not sure I particularly want to investigate him further.

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by Jobi1 View Post
                                        Went to see Sophie Duker in one of the small rooms in the labyrinthine Hull City Hall, and she was absolutely wonderful. Her current show is built around family relationships and journeys (metaphorical and literal), well worth catching if she's coming to a venue near you on this run.

                                        Slightly surprised (disappointed?) that while she was not filling this small suite, another comedian who'd I'd genuinely never even heard of (Paul Smith?) was doing the first of two sold out nights in the 1,200-capacity main hall. Judging (in every sense) by the state of the crowd waiting outside the main hall entrance when we arrived, I'm not sure I particularly want to investigate him further.
                                        Paul Smith is an odd one, he's made a very successful career out of doing, fairly standard MC/compere style crowd work. He had a residency in the Hot Water clubs in Liverpool and built up a loyal, local following and because they film all of their shows and are canny with releasing clips, he became a bit of an internet sensation in that "COMEDIAN DESTROYS HECKLER!" clickbait style.

                                        One big positive to this though is that it's all been done without the "gatekeepers" and the usual levels of nepotism or industry approval that are generally required for an act to make it big.
                                        Last edited by Tratorello; 03-04-2023, 15:38.

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                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by Incandenza View Post

                                          I love Bargatze, I was going to recommend him when I saw this post. He has a new special that is on Amazon Prime, but I didn't like it as much as his previous ones. For me his funniest bit is his struggles ordering in Starbucks.
                                          We watched the Prime special and really enjoyed it. His bit about being 43 and seeing himself as part of a much younger crowd chimed with my 40-something self.

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                                            #22
                                            Of the vast number of comedians I've watched over the past 15 years, the only one I can think of who I've regularly enjoyed is Doug Stanhope, and for people who make me laugh, I've come to enjoy Limmy.
                                            I like how frank he is - particularly about mental health and other fairly weighty subjects, but in a very blunt, Glaswegian way, and not in a 'I've done too much coke and now my brain can't produce happy chemicals on its own' kind of way I see among some celebs today - and I've found myself subscribing to his video clips channel on YouTube which is constantly uploading clips from his twitch stream. I find most comedy performers to be wishy washy as fuck, so it's a compliment to them that I can tolerate them for extended periods.

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                                              #23
                                              Popped down to a local comedy night tonight. To say the standard was variable would be quite the understatement. A couple of the acts were astonishingly awful in terms of material – transphobia, anti-woke crusading, pronouns, bizarrely lengthy Greta Thunberg impressions (not meant with any warmth), lots of "my wife is awful" type stuff, a disturbing amount of incest content, and even a couple of Irish jokes, just in case things weren't feeling retro enough. Disappointingly, all of that went down rather well.

                                              But it was (just about) worth enduring that for the headline act, an up-and-coming potential star, Jack McLean, who we'd gone specifically to see. How they managed to get him I'm not sure, but I'm glad I managed to catch him now. If you don't know him, he's a football fan and also gay, so very definitely my kind of act. Interesting that he went down just as well as the bigoted bollocks earlier in the evening, so I guess we can count that as a win. Look Jack up anyway – he's ace.

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                                                #24
                                                Hi gang, I am a standup. I don't particularly want to breach my anonymity by posting my stuff, but maybe I should? I've been on very minor TV and that.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by Jobi1 View Post
                                                  Went to see Sophie Duker in one of the small rooms in the labyrinthine Hull City Hall, and she was absolutely wonderful. Her current show is built around family relationships and journeys (metaphorical and literal), well worth catching if she's coming to a venue near you on this run.

                                                  Slightly surprised (disappointed?) that while she was not filling this small suite, another comedian who'd I'd genuinely never even heard of (Paul Smith?) was doing the first of two sold out nights in the 1,200-capacity main hall. Judging (in every sense) by the state of the crowd waiting outside the main hall entrance when we arrived, I'm not sure I particularly want to investigate him further.
                                                  Paul Smith is not my (or likely your) cuppa, but he's a legitimate draw and his rise is very interesting. He was a circuit comic for years, then began posting clips of crowdwork online in around 2018, as did a couple of clubs he was a regular at. Some of it went viral, especially during the pandemic when clubgoers had nothing else to do, he was quick-witted engaging with people on social media who were identifying themselves in the crowds, and he's built an audience from there. I could go on all day about my very conflicted thoughts on the politics and harm/benefit ratio of that whole Northern 'Big Online' crowd, but he is what he is, he's not an overt antiwoke nutbar, and he's got a huge audience.

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