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The Reviews Archive from 1997.

Interviews
Interviews with stand-up stars.

Reviews Archive March - May 2001

WITH the title 'laughing cows', I approached this venue with some trepidation.

Disinfecting hay hadn't been put down and neither had any of the comics.

Luckily, foot and mouth disease hadn't contaminated the performance of the MC, Karen Cockfield whose boisterousness went down well.

And on the face of it, the bill looked strong, featuring Shappi Khorsandi (pictured), Shazia Mirza and Amanda Baker.

Drawing attention to herself with a shock of blonde hair, first act on Baker was confidence on legs.

Her set comprised tales about her oddball parents: her father apparently bought her a gun on National Rifle Association Day when she was a little girl, and her mother told her of her father's death only after the funeral.

But, sadly, her observations about the girl-pulling techniques of British men fell flat on the predominantly lesbian audience.

But Baker used the interactive skills she has gained as a compere to get the crowd back on her side.

Donna Withers didn't fare as well. You could see she was trying a little too hard.

Her stuff about the Out Back induced silence at first, but then impelled an aggressive woman to shout, 'Get your tits out!' - the most memorable comment of the night.

What Donna does well, though, is naivety, especially when she talks about relationships.

Now here's a revelation: the deadpan delivery and persona of Shazia Mirza worked the crowd into a frenzy.

She exposed common misconceptions about Muslims in a very subtle way.

My only worry is that her material, about the culture clashes she faces, may date quickly.

She should remember the Goodness Gracious Me team and plenty of other Asian comics cover the same ground.

This is where Shappi Khorsandi - recently featured in The Sun - is ahead of the game.

Whilst she does mention her Iranian roots, she also chatted about broader topics, which appealed to everyone.

It was her enormous charm that won people over, and her natural delivery helped to make her a fine headline act.

STAR RATING (out of five): ***

Ivan de Mello

May 2001 issue


Mothers Comedy Club, Round Table, London WC2



THIS cosy club in the West End lived up to its reputation for attracting a comedy-friendly and cosmopolitan audience and booking a good standard of act.

Compere Teresa Hellen warmed up the crowd with some entertaining material about her life, and kept them percolating throughout the evening with episodes as bizarre as seeing Eddy Izzard's cock and fainting on a famous singer's tits.

Hellen's compering skills have improved immeasurably over the time she has been hosting this club.

Opening act Amanda Baker struggled a bit.

It was good to see her deviate from her usual routine to try to play around with the audience.

Unfortunately, it didn't work very well.

Baker's stage presence is good but she can be let down by the quality of her gags.

And the material about the breakdown of her marriage was, perhaps, tainted too strongly with a feeling of nastiness.

David Adams came across as very much a new act.

But he had some interesting ideas about his childhood and his stammer that could be built into something really funny.

Experienced comedian Rolly Moe - who runs Mothers - rounded off the first half of the show with an excellent 20-minute set.

He's honed the weirdness of his unnamed character to near-perfection and now employs three separate sets of 20-minutes that work for him.

If an audience buys into the character, he is an unstoppable comedy force.

After the break, Mark Dolan - a grinning beanstalk of a man - was also first-class.

It was great to see him take the audience on surreal flights of fancy.

And shaggy-haired Rohan Agalawatta also hit the target with some strong gags, delivered almost deadpan.

Overall, a good night of comedy.

This is one free-on-the-door stand-up club that's definitely worth a visit.

STAR RATING (out of five): ****

Ollie Wilson

May 2001 issue


The Chuckle Club at the LSE, London WC2.



AFTER having suffered Eugene Cheese's warm-up for the third week running - 'The Chuckle Club Anthem' to which the audience response is 'Balls!' and a song taken from the The Blues Brothers - the acts of the night came as a huge relief.

Thankfully, the 'immature' humour of Steve Best (sort of pictured) provided entertainment.

His act is slapstick, uses props and is reminiscent of eighties American comics like Carrot Top.

He has a cartoonish quality about him and an infectious, nervous energy.

Just don't expect any clever insights or observations - this act is strictly switch- your-brain-off stuff!

Hackney New Act Runner-up Rob Deering has a novel way of entering the stage, and offers some unique perceptions into song lyrics.

He has a confident personality and a powerful enough voice to do an impression of Tom Jones, which serves him well.

Perhaps, if he cast his comic eye towards more compelling topics, a possible career in television and further awards would not be beyond him.

I don't know what it is about northern comics, but their accents seem to lend a fluidity and rhythm to their routines, which is perfect for stand-up.

This is the case with Anvil Springstien.

His material is definitely politically incorrect - and there are plenty of stereotypes to boot but it's hilarious.

I think his attack on farmers is misguided but one cannot fault his passion.

A rousing finale was given by the main act of the night, Dave Fulton.

The straggly-haired American has a fast delivery, which means he gets through a mountain of material in a relatively short time.

He has intelligent things to say about relationships, and some acerbic comments on the current U.S. president.

Fulton is the kind of act that you want to see again and again to fully appreciate the content and style.

STAR RATING (out of five): ****
Ivan de Mello
April 2001 issue


Ivan's Comedy Gaffe, London W1.



ANOTHER MONDAY NIGHT at Ivan's Gaffe. Another bunch of newish comedians.

Opening act Rue Barrett was a bit too quirky for his own good.

There was comedy potential here, but much was lost in the cascade of words.

His shambling image is comedic, but the foreign language obsession was a tongue too far. Rue needs to work on his script.

Chris Gilbert was something of a cliche: a red-headed stand-up banging on about being a redhead.

Gilbert put a lot of energy into his performance but his observational material was weak.

Double act Guided Missile - sister who slagged off each other - lost the plot.

They missed their target by a mile, performing to each other rather than to the audience.

Rambling on, they were more like unguided missiles.

But how could they get their act together? Well, they look way too similar on stage.

They need to quickly establish a comedic divide between themselves, without having to laboriously explain it to the audience.

Guided Missiles could also do with tightening up their material.

It's no good running through childhood memories, unless there are some funny bits.

Still, they should persevere.

They clearly want to succeed, and if Mel and Sue can make it big, hope really does spring eternal.

New Zealander Jarred Christmas was undoubtedly the act of the night.

A natural performer, he zipped through material about medical drug testing and a very funny surreal tongue-twister.

Deadpan Irishman Harvey O'Leary won some laughs with his static one-liners, but desperately needs more quality gags.

American Caitlin Miller moved well on stage and came up some interesting ideas that need working into better routines.

Headliner Gary Delaney's puns had a slightly rough ride. The audience laughed at the best ones, but groaned at the rest.

Overall, it was an interesting workshop in front of a small audience.

But if it hadn't been for compere Ivan Steward's high-quality performance as the Comedy Ref (pictured), it would have looked a bit limp.

STAR RATING (out of five): ***
OllieWilson
April 2001 issue


Amused Moose New Act of The Year - Final 2001, London W1



THE LISTED bill for the final listed was an all-male affair, but on the night there was one woman performing.

The missing act was John Bishop, replaced by Karen Bailey.

The new venue for the Amused Moose - beneath Barcode in Archer St, London W1 - was completely packed, with standing room only, when we arrived.

The compere was Lee Mack, who was excellent, almost stealing the show from the finalists.

Opening act was softly-spoken Kiwi Terry Frisby, who centered his act on a story about meeting a Belgian girl. He was good but did not generate enough excitement on the night to get placed.

Next up was Timber, who couldn't decide whether he was Marylin Manson or Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet.

He was 'in your face' with material about growing up in Glasgow.

Inder Manocha did some clever reflective stuff on the differences between England and India, and used a few props, including alternative road signs.

He was unlucky not to be in the top three.

Rob Deering (pictured) was next, but spent most of his five minutes off the stage, demonstrating why he didn't run on the stage in true showbiz style.

Deering did show great confidence, and immediately seemed in the frame for the 'spectacular' prize (A small hand-held plastic moose face).

The final act of the first half was Henrik Elmer, a Swede who reminded us of magic tricks that Swedes can do, particularly on the England football team.

Elmer appeared to be nervous when starting and part of his act described himself as dull, but his one-line material and stories were as zany as Harry Hill's.

After the interval, we had the very tall and balding Alex Horne, who in persuading a cute American girl to feel his shaven head, looked to have picked up something, if not a comedy award.

Fresh-faced Graham Anthony denied he was in a boy band and told us the trouble of being a comic with a hearing aid.

Not unique material, but quite funny, and he is young enough to learn and improve immensely.

Penultimate act was John Gill, who spoke in a monotome and didn't link his material, preferring to hit us with one-liners.

They were fairly funny, but he appeared to be a very slowed down version of Jack Dee.

Finally came Jarred Christmas, completely opposite to the previous act, bursting on stage, pumping his arms and interacting with audience members.

But sadly his material about the sperm breaking out was hard to follow.

My choice for the top three was Henrik Elmer, Rob Deering and Inder Monocha.

The judges - including Eugene Cheese, Ricky Gervais and Malcolm Hay - went for Rob Deering as winner, Henrik Elmer (runner-up) and Alex Horne (3rd).

STAR RATING (out of five): ****
Peter Merrett
April 2001 issue


Mirth Control 2, West Hampstead, London



IT'S often a unpredictable night at this venue, with the Hampstead crowd either choosing to sit in silence, arms crossed, or rip right into the night and produce an atmosphere rarely matched - regardless of the standard of the acts.

On this occasion, for once the audience was somewhere in between.

First act Peter Tennant burst on stage with his camp cabaret set.

The crowd was slow to respond but, by the end of his set, he had them singing along to the chorus of Down Town, and they were all fired up for the next act.

Ian Boldsworth's new character Ray Peacock stormed it. Apparently this character is bound for the small screen. I predict big things, because of its great catchphrases, audience banter, and solid material. Brilliant!

The second set began and the crowd had decided it was ashamed at how excited they got during Ray Peacock's set.

Next act on Shelley Cooper felt their full wrath. A couple of chuckles a few smiles and a sea of folded arms.

Silky then took to the stage and wasn't having any of it.

This confident northerner worked them back into a frenzy with his set of insults, cheek, charm, wit and music.

The headline act Phil Davey then rode them on but never really reached the peaks of Boldsworth and Silky nor the low of Cooper.

Davey's act was a solid workman-like, albeit unspectacular, finisher.

The night overall felt like a battle between the crowd and the acts with the comedians winning on a split points decision.

STAR RATING (out of five): ***

April 2001 issue


Comedy Cafe, London EC2



WHEN A CLUB of this size puts on a free show and you still walk away feeling you haven't had value for money, then the night has been a shocker.

Compere Martin Davis trundled out jokes older than the hills and had the audience merely waiting for him to either shut up or bring on the next appalling act.

Davis started just about OK, with the tried and trusted technique of picking on the large guy at the front (using every compere cliche in the book).

But as the night went on, the audience's patience with him wore very thin.

Of the acts in the first two sections, only Jimmy Carr displayed any style and generated actual laughter.

Comedy Cafe regular Ninia Benjamin still does open spots here despite her great confidence, unfortunately misplaced.

Her entire set revolved around her being fat and the word 'cock'.

It was, at best, third rate and boring.

With the time already past 11pm and at least four acts still to go, I took the path of 80 per cent of the crowd and left.

A club as large and established as the Cafe should do a heck of a lot better than this.

STAR RATING (out of five): *
'The Kritik'
March 2001 issue


Ian Stone, James Dowdeswell, David Caruana, Simon Happily and Alfie Joey, Comedy at SoHoHo, Soho, London.



IT MAY JUST be a room above a pub, but the magic of showbiz seemed to descend on this friendly Soho venue on this particular Saturday.

Geordie compere Alfie Joey must be one of the friendliest people in London.

The skill in what he does is to make it look easy, and that must take a lot of hard work.

First act of the evening was James Dowdeswell.

If success is not so much about how good you start out but about how you can continue to get better, then Dowdeswell is going to the very top.

Every time I've seen him, he's been better than before, and he was pretty good before.

His act centres on well drawn and precisely executed vocal characterisations in absurd situations.

Examples on this night included New York rappers ordering a drink in a west-country pub, Samuel L. Jackson working in Burton's Menswear, A Star Wars obsessed Swansea policeman and a Brummie Tarmacker unable to find creative inspiration for his work.

The characters were spot-on, and Dowdeswell's twenty-minute set flew by.

It's not, perhaps, the most challenging stand-up ever, but if it's funny, who cares?

Simon Happily was next - a very chatty, at-ease-with-himself young gay man.

Happily's best material is about inverting the usual 'I don't mind gays but I don't want to know what they get up to' line.

There are times when you wish there was less chat and more gags but his amiable persona just about carries him through.

David Caruana was next up to the plate.

Caruana is a true gag-teller with rat-a-tat one and two line gags in quick succession.

Most of them hit the mark.

But when the audience didn't catch the bus, it was not a problem because there was always another one coming quickly behind it.

Headliner Ian Stone was much funnier than he looked on his appearence in Alan Davies stand-up documentary on BBC1 last year.

Stone is a cheeky story teller and topical gag-merchant all in one.

He has a broad range of targets, from his Jewish upbringing to the latest topical issues and much more.

Intelligent observation and the nerve to put the knife in when required are equally apparent.

He was a fitting headliner to a very good night of comedy.

STAR RATING (out of five): ****
Cloth Ears
March 2001 issue


King of Comedy, Brixton, London.



ON THE FACE of it, this was not a promising gig - a seedy pub down a back alley in South London with an audience who hadn't paid to get in and, presumably, weren't asked if they wanted comedy in the first place.

Compere Dave Griffiths is nice and natural, though straying too far and much too early into self-deprecation.

His 'I'm shit, the acts are funny' routine was immediately proved false by opener Jeremy O'Donnell, and again by second act Matt Cooper.

Neither really managed to engage the audience.

Third act Sabrina George is something of an oddity.

She has a nice relaxed stage presence, and is not lacking in likeability but there is just something in her material that needs tweaking.

I think she needs some jokes.

The second half of the show soon kicked things into life, however.

Jon Torrens made good capital from his close resemblance to Lenin, and then had an inspired and 'only he can do it' little cameo as a low-budget alien from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The audience warmed to him, and there was a comedy buzz in the room at last.

Closing act Marcus Birdman showed why he is being talked of as a star of the near future.

He has a very funny comic persona with a hilarious habit of interrupting himself with tangential asides to the main thrust of his material.

A friendly and chatty act, Birdman has an underlying authority and control with some brilliant gags seemingly just tossed in.

The evening ended on a high note, despite the bad signs initially and the dodgy sound system.

STAR RATING (out of five): ***
Cloth Ears
March 2001 issue


Jongleurs, Bow, East London.



ANOTHER BIRTHDAY - not mine - meant another group trip to Bow Wharf with a mixture of old and new comedy faces performing.

Compere Keith Fields is a poor man's version of Brian Connelly in appearance and voice and kept the audience ticking over, performing magic tricks with props you can buy in a joke shop.

I first saw veteran stand-up Mark Hurst in 1997 with his northern outlook on life including material about other people's kids and the visual 'exclamation mark' in conversation.

And he's still peforming the best bits of that set.

Hal Cruttenden is an exciting performer, graduating through the comedy ranks with strong material about being married with a young child and how some people assume he is gay because of his slightly camp voice.

Harry Denford - a 'fat boy from South-east London' character with roll neck and gold chains - makes out he's the sort of geezer you'd see in Bermondsey pubs on the day of Millwall football matches.

His act is a well-observed stereotype. With Ricky Grover doing more TV work, I suspect the comedy bookers have found a similar style performer, who even does a musical ending.

Finally, the great Al Murray - The Pub Landlord - back on familiar territory.

The last time I saw Murray at Jongleurs around three years ago, he was a one-time Perrier Award nominee, not a Perrier winner with sell-out West End shows and Sky TV series behind him.

He has done very well, satirically preaching the gospel of a Little Englander.

The newest material I saw centred on the name 'John', and how the British have allowed it to be used abroad for a fee by the Spanish, Germans, Dutch and Italians.

The perfect headliner.

OVERALL STAR RATING (out of five): ****
Peter Merrett
March 2001 issue


Tut Club, Islington, London.



THIS IS A SMALL but friendly club where newish comics do eight to ten minutes and more established comedians test new material.

I saw Donna Withers - a bubbly Australian - who jokes she is living in Cockfosters for the Fosters.

She said she had seen fellow Aussies 'Puppetry of The Penis' perform their show, and was thinking of doing a similar act with her body. Apparantly, her breasts have different agents!

Lanky Martin Inglish told us of Jesus, bank holidays and the Bible scriptwriters.

We had a double dose of Daves - the self-deprecating Dave Part who doesn't mind dying on stage, but is determined to take the audience with him, and Dave Hill gave us lists and 10 commandments.

A recurring topic of discussion was the garish shirts worn by compere Andy Fox.

His purple shirt was discussed and dissected by the audience.

Fox has promised to bring in seven shirts he has worn in the seven years he has been hosting the club and display them on a rack so the audience can choose which one he will wear.

Well worth the £3 entry fee. Watch out for the shirts!

STAR RATING (out of five): ***
Peter Merrett
March 2001 issue


Boothby Graffoe, Jim Tavare, Jeff Innocent, Simon B. Cotter, Kevin McCarthy, The Comedy Store, London



SOMETIMES YOU GET what you pay for, sometimes you don't. The Comedy Store was charging twelve quid to get in, but this was a line-up that still looked like good value.

Compere Kevin McCarthy has huge likeability combined with ferocious wit and had the audience falling about within two minutes.

Next came Simon B Cotter, a solid Canadian gagster who certainly knows how to tell a joke but will, in all probability, never be accused of taking risks in his desire to advance the art of comedy.

Cotter's opening gambits relied heavily on his 'fat-bloke' appearence, but he was undone here because, perhaps unusually for him, the compere was even fatter.

Jim Tavare then took over for a hilarious half-hour of double bass related humour.

Tavare's act is as polished as the oversized stringed instrument on which he spends most of it leaning.

The deadpan gags come thick and fast and there are some delightful barbs in among the silliness. A top act!

Jeff Innocent looks scary. If someone asked you to draw a picture of a gangster, you might come up with something that looked like him.

With scariness as a given, Innocent is thus free to surprise the audience with extremely intelligent material full of mature contemplation that's laced with terrific punchlines. I thought he was great, though who would dare give him a bad review?

Boothby Graffoe closed.

Boothby has long been one of the best stand-ups around, so long in fact that he's taken to playing the guitar on stage instead.

He's good enough to do just what he wants and get away with it.

Here was the best line of the night - 'I've fallen out with my girlfriend. I misunderstood her when she told me she'd like to take up the sittar.'

With a good open spot from up-and-coming Kevin Sherwani, the evening was a well rounded comedy experience. Twelve quids' worth? Probably.

STAR RATING (out of five): ****
Cloth Ears
March 2001 issue

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