Tonight I was in Little Eaton at the Shiny Tap for the 20th Flat Cap comedy night held there. This is an absolutely fantastic night and one that sells out the next night before that nights’ gig has finished. Stevie has built something special here. The room love him for it, too. He knows most of the audience through them being regular attendees and whilst this means that he can’t go with too much material, he doesn’t need to. Just chatting and being naturally a people person, albeit one with fast wits, soon has everyone ready. Tonight Stevie had a couple of people who claimed to be dealers when he asked what they did for a living. Generally this is a bit tedious for comperes, but he got a lot more out of it than what you’d have thought possible. The Lincoln gig went down a treat in the second section.
Jim Brown
Brown is a talented up and coming act who was an unexpected bonus to the line up. Whilst he was easily the least experienced comic on the bill he did more than hold his own. His clever writing (Naseby is great) and well paced delivery worked out very well. It was great to see him do a call back to the swing. It’s a shame that he wasn’t here to see Bloom’s set, as would have really appreciated his approach to intellectual reference points.
Carey Marx
I last saw Marx in a heat for British comedian of the year, where he’d done well, but would have benefitted from a longer set time. Tonight he had 20 minutes and made the most of it, providing one of the stronger pro opening spots I’ve seen in Little Eaton. His material is a delightful mix of the down to earth and the surreal. As a result of this approach it was highly unlikely that anyone would guess the reveals and they all hit home hard. The extroverts section, delivered almost without him pausing for breath, was great, as was mirage, but the tunnel gag was an absolute world beater.
Alex Hylton
I’ve always liked Alex, but unfortunately just don’t get to see that much of him, so I was especially pleased to see him on the bill tonight. He opened with some excellent room work before going into his material. There were some great routines here, Middlesbrough, the Cook running gag and above all the 4th date. This last one was a real high point, as the punchlines here came one after another very quickly and so built up. It was also a nicely visual routine in the fact that it was so easy to picture and if he ever used it in Edinburgh I can imagine an actual presentation bringing the house down. The routine about his voice was great and made even more so by how he leaned back to deliver it, almost as if his back was giving him a few aches. This was quite a small thing, but it really added to what he was saying.
Adam Bloom
This was the first time I’d seen Bloom, but by heck, I hope he gigs up here more often. This was a masterclass in comedy and simply put was one of the best performances I’ve seen. The writing was amazingly good. There were some reference points that the audience had to think about a touch, Zola and Zorro and this was a delight. It’s wonderful when you see an act trust the audience to get what he is saying and to do a bit of thinking of their own, instead of just going for the low hanging fruit. Audiences generally appreciate this themselves, too. One of the most surprising things about Bloom’s material tonight was that he was running out some new stuff and, whilst I’d not see him before, you can usually spot the newer material, but I couldn’t. Everything felt seasoned. There was one thing that I missed and that was a subtle callback to the awful laugh. It’s a very nicely laid out and funny gag, too. In addition to what I’ve said about the writing being so powerful, was the delivery. Bloom delivered his material with panache and he looked to be having a great time up there on the stage. This didn’t feel like he was doing a job in the midweek, but instead, it felt like was working hard and trying to get the most out of every single word. It’s a shame he lives down south, as I’d like to see more of him.
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