Tonight I was in Southwell at the Saracen’s Head for the Funhouse comedy night. I really like this gig, as not only do my folks and Sallyboo come, too, but it’s always nice to see Mike performing in his home town. As he knows most of the audience, it’s good to see him having to think on his feet. Tonight he chatted to an IT specialist, who wasn’t able to help him with his Facebook profile, a chap who was a big The Rasmus fan, Liam a solicitor turned stockbroker, which prompted the question of had he also been an estate agent, as well as the local councillors who were in. This was laid back cheerful compering that soon had the room ready for comedy.
Rob Rouse
Rouse is a very bankable performer and the last time he was in Southwell, there was a great moment when he was talking about rubber johnies and he asked a chap in the audience – ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Johnny,’ which brought the house down. Tonight, Rob gave the room a set that covered a lot of ground, taking in coughing (nice to see it had been developed further), glasses, parties and soldering. This was all delivered with a lot of energy and panache. Oddly the audience seemed to dip in and out of the material, really going with some bits, but not so much with all and that was unusual, as it was all of a good quality and I’ve seen it take the roof off before.
Josh Elton
Josh was new to me and I think I’ll be seeing a lot of him in the future. He’s a confident presence and has the ability to go much further. His material was solid and there was a lovely sense of performance to his delivery. It was wonderful to see him tying material into individual audience members and using the correct local references, despite being based in S Wales. This made what he was saying feel very much of the here and now. His timing on moved in was absolutely spot on. This was a very impressive performance.
Mad Ron
It’s always a pleasure to see Mad Ron and the audience agreed. He’s a superb act on every level. There was nothing at all to find fault with in what he did. His construction, material, delivery, timing and even the way in which he subtly played with the audience’s expectations were absolutely top notch. He has a great choice of words and it’s always lovely to see an act treat an audience as intelligent and to use references that they have to do that tiny bit of thinking about before they laugh. The message and reply were standout moments on what was a superb night of comedy. I’ve never seen Mad Ron have a bad gig and I doubt if I ever will.
Stephen Bailey
Bailey is a fantastic act and one whose career is really taking off, so it was great to see him still being willing to come to Southwell. He has bags of charm and was instantly adored by the audience, whom he proceeded to play like a piano. He took them in a lot of different directions with his material and as he did it so well, everyone was happy to travel there with him. Bailey has an exceptional stage presence and was thoroughly enjoyed by the whole audience.
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