Tonight I was at the Lyric Rooms in Ashby for the Funhouse comedy night. This is a great gig at a very nice venue and it attracts a pleasant well behaved audience. Spiky Mike opened with some timely material regarding Halloween and then searched the audience for first-timers, that he’d not spoken to before. Over the course of the evening he found a few interesting people, such as the swimming instructor and her boyfriend, who both played instruments and a ‘rural housing enabler’ which was a new one to most of the people there. He had a lot of fun on her behalf in trying to find anyone who wanted more houses in their village.
Our opening act was Tom Wrigglesworth, who was given a great boost by the presence of a seven week old baby who had come to see the show with her parents. Wrigglesworth spotted this group before he was announced and began his set by chatting to them about their newborn and then using this as a springboard into his material about recently becoming the father of twins. Wrigglesworth is one of the few acts where the set ups are just as enjoyable as the punchlines. He has such an elegant grasp of the English language it is pure joy to follow how he constructs sentences and builds his descriptions. This was a set with a lot of highlights, such as the names of the twins, organ donation, towers, tumbledrier and the printer. Funnily enough I saw Scott Bennett do a routine about printers last night, but the routines are very different, albeit both superb. This was a cracking set.
I’d not seen Rees for a while and since I last saw him he’s been very busy writing new material as this set was full of things that I’d not heard before. Morgan started off well with a good joke and a strong topper, which earned him applause. From here he spoke to a lady on the front row, challenging her to name an animal in return for him giving her a fact. Naturally, she tried to throw him with a curveball, which I think he was half expecting, because he didn’t bat an eyelid when she announced ‘duck billed platypus’ (nice of him to repeat her answer so that everyone could hear it). Rees responded with some gentle admonishment for her suggestion and then hit the room with an entertaining fact that led naturally into material on his background. Tag was a great joke, although cardio wasn’t quite up to that standard. The routine about the houseshare was enjoyable, with sink and then the follow up line, which he astutely delivered almost as a resigned after-thought being very well thought out and funny. The closing routine is a promising concept that has legs, but isn’t there yet. I think the basic idea of the marriage is sound, but he may well have had one too many incongruities thrown up by the situation to maintain the pacing. The knowingly tongue in cheek cliché that he ended on provided a good ending to that routine and to what was a very good set.
Tez Ilyas
I’d not seen Ilyas before, although I’d heard a lot of positive things about him. His delivery was unhurried and conversational and everyone was able to settle into his set very nicely. Ilyas showed a skilful touch in how he used his voice to emphasise the emotions of what he was saying, with his inflection on downside really pushing that line. Similarly, he was able to get the most out of changing the energy level to suit what he was saying. Ilyas has very strong performance skills. The material was solid, too, OM being well considered, Benidorm good, the balloon superb and the closing routine was magnificent. I wasn’t that keen on him using the well worn line, ‘because that’s her name’, as too many people have already said it, but that’s not the end of the world. This was a set that gave the night the feel of there being an extra headliner on the bill.
Jeff Innocent
Headlining was Jeff Innocent who from his first ‘fack’ of the show was unmistakably a Cockney. This is a facet that gives him almost an air of the exotic when gigging up here. Innocent is very aware of his obvious strengths, which are his appearance and his background and if he wasn’t to address them, then it would feel odd, so instead he has crafted some very powerful material around them. However, when discussing multiculturalism, family and getting older he was just as adept. There were a lot of high points in this set, such as Ray Winstone, his youngest son, bouncers, Sunderland and so on. The closing routine concerned sex and advancing years, which as a real crowd pleaser, he tied in to a couple sat on the front row. During this routine the seven week old baby who had been totally silent all night, woke up with a bit of a cry and as quick as you like, Jeff was there with an on topic as-lib which pretty much took the roof off. Innocent’s delivery took in the entire audience and he left no section of the room feeling left out as he performed. I’ve seen him a few times and it was nice to see quite a few improvements to his existing material with the odd re-wording here and there, plus some new bits. This was a thoroughly enjoyable set by Jeff Innocent that received not only consistent laughs, but consistent big laughs.
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