Let's Talk to Barry (Alex Lowe)Very clever, very funny strangely moving character comedy. A brilliant central idea of a series of fake phone calls to Ian Lee’s talk radio show (hence “let’s talk to Barry”) interspersed with Lowe (as Barry) telling us about his life and the changes he’s seen in his home town of Watford. It’s easy to take the piss out of the elderly (Lowe is in his thirties, Barry is 81), but this show completely avoids that. My 80 year old grandmother would have enjoyed it as much as I did. It’s funny throughout and poignant without ever being mawkish. If you get the chance I’d recommend a trip, as a bonus you can wave at Alyssa who’ll be sat on the operating desk at the back.
Moths Ate my Doctor Who Scarf (Toby Hadoke)I have never seen such a geeky audience in my entire life, many of them may not have left the house before. It’s lucky that the Baby Belly 2 (the venue) is a cave or it might have all been too startling for them. Hadoke’s show is autobiographical stand-up, focused on a lifetime obsessed with ‘Doctor Who’. It’s very enjoyable and chucklesomely funny. The main down points are his slagging off of the McCoy years (some of us were kids in the late eighties and fucking loved it), its veering towards sentimentality at the end and the fact you’ll leave with ELO in your head.
Dirty Book Club (Stewart Lee, Robin Ince, Martin White, Josie Long, Bridget Christie, Howard Read, Will Hodgson, Faultless and Torrence… other people I have forgotten)Robin Ince’s Book Club’s late night counterpart, Robin was late so we had the unexpected pleasure of Stewart Lee kicking off the comparing duties. Robin arrived just as Stewart was suggesting that all he’d have to do to fill in for him is read out passages from a book in a sarcastic voice, the cheeky monkey. The highlight was definitely Bridget Christie who performed as Dan Brown trying his hand at stand up. Telling jokes in the style of Brown is completely inspired (the chicken looked over his muscular shoulder and narrowed his eyes as he replied, “to get to the other side, asshole!”) and if people don’t laugh he doesn’t care, after all he could buy all of us! Though Bridget stole the show Martin White’s finale of ‘Thriller’ on the accordion came a close second.
Ron Mueck This isn’t a comedy show; it’s an art exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy. I liked it, but it didn’t produce as strong as response as I might have expected. Many of the figures (distorted scale aside) aren’t as photo-realistic as I was expecting and some of them seemed a bit pointless. This one piece however is quite extraordinary and I felt very moved to be in its presence, I swear I could feel her moving. It’s a very maternal image, strangely comforting to be around; I wanted to get in bed with her.
Hils Barker: In the Wrong Place Mainly went to this as Hils is staying in the same flat as Alyssa for the duration of the festival (and hence me for the four days I’m here). I’ve seen her do shorter stuff at ‘Just the Tonic’ and liked her. I like her again and giggle a lot, though the show seems a bit unstructured and Hils a little flustered occasionally, but this might be because the show was being filmed. Her love of Johnny Cash and Bruce Springsteen wins me over.
Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus vs Malcolm and Mirriam (Jason Cook Lee and Fenwick)Malcolm and Mirriam are a blissful comic creation that made me chuckle throughout. Jason and Lee are talented character comics and this show split evenly between a seminar on relationships by the unusual Malcolm and Mirriam and the worst band in Germany Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus really showcased those talents. I met them all too briefly before and after the show and they were lovely, particularly Lee who I quite fancy as he’s dead funny, looks like David Byrne and was quietly singing along when Joe showed me R Kelly’s ‘Trapped in the Closet’ in the bar.
Josie Long: Kindness and ExuberanceI’ve seen Josie do shorter sets before and really enjoyed her. She’s incredibly endearing and funny in a sweetly off the wall sort of way. This was her first hour long show and I have to say I was a little disappointed, particularly after the glowing five star reviews she’s received for it. The longer running time meant Josie’s on stage persona started to grate and became irritatingly twee and started to feel a bit self-consciously ‘kooky’. It was still sweet and funny, but I got bored and cynical. Her homemade badges and programmes were adorable.
Natalie Haynes: Watching the DetectivesAnother one of Alyssa’s shows, she and Natalie have worked together a fair few times before so I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Natalie live and meeting her a couple of times already. She’s a very intelligent and professional stand-up and this is really well constructed and funny show. A love of American detective shows (particularly ‘Diagnosis Murder’) is a plus, but not essential. After the show we went for a drink with Natalie and her Mum, ahhhh.
Soup (Jason Cook, Toby Hadoke, Keith Carter, Lee Fenwick)More Cook and Fenwick, this time joined by a couple of their mates for a lunchtime sketch show. Cook takes comparing duties and Hadoke, Carter and Fenwick provide the sketches (though I’m not sure Toby Hadoke’s contribution of providing a nearly autistic stream of information about anything related to Doctor Who that an audience member shouts out, can really be called a ‘sketch’). It’s Lee Fenwick’s characters that really shine (and not just because I fancy him) ‘Mr Digital’ is pure genius, he has travelled to the future and returned to tell us all about it (“the gays will reveal it was all a joke”). A really fun hour, the audience get really involved in a completely non-embarrassing way and it reminds me what I like about comedy, people having a good time, mucking about and being funny. Joe makes an unexpected appearance on stage and Alyssa gets a high five from Lee, which makes me a bit jealous.
Keith Carter’s ‘The Fall of the House of Frazer’A story told through three comic characters. Carter is obviously talented, but this isn’t really my cup of tea. I still giggled a lot though and it provides Joe another opportunity to get himself on stage (this time his bus pass is used to as a visual aid to represent a shoplifter).
Curses!!
I don't remember that bit being in the show on the 14th either!!
