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Britcom...edy Mary Tobin Productions The Arts Theatre Until Sun 14 March I walked into a darkened Arts Theatre absolutely stuffed to its gills with punters already chuckling away merrily to themselves. Stephen K Amos was on the expansive stage and having some nice little audience interaction. Amos was our compere for the evening in which Rhod Gilbert and Gordon Southern presented their stand-up routines in this compilation of some of the UK's finest comedians. As such the evening was very segmented, a showbag of possibilities if you will, but one that was vastly appreciated by the majority of the audience. The three comedians had diverse styles with the animated interactive Amos contrasting neatly with the deadpan Gilbert and the anecdotal Southern. Amos concentrated upon successfully building a rapport with the audience - "where are you from?, any out of towners, any youngsters?" and neatly returning to these people throughout the evening. This afforded him the opportunity to rattle off some cracking puns and one-liners, indulge in innuendo and make local some references. His skit about the Glenelg Tram gave me a glimpse of his undoubted ability, one that his role perhaps precluded him from showing. He is fast and furious and the ideal host for this show. Rhod Gilbert hails from the birthplace of comedy; Wales. His delivery is laidback but his material is not. it's often surreal and leaves the obvious behind. He obviously has an immense, absurd but dark imagination and manages to generate laughs from subjects considered dicey. His spiels on the loneliness of stalking and using Gran's swollen pancreas for soccer are just two examples; his material often seemed to baffle some of the audience. Wheelchair parking spaces, bike lanes, poverty, boardgames and family proved rich veins for Gilbert's musings. Gilbert is deeply funny in an unusual doubletake manner even if he seems more suited to more intimate venues. Gordon Southern had the audience in stitches. He told damn fine stories while prowling the stage and cracking himself up. Southern's rapid fire delivery can cause him to stumble over parts of the routine but these mistakes were deliciously incorporated; his explanation of the word grum was simply but beautifully explored. He has a clear love of wordplay and puns with translation of middle class speak into actual meaning being a highlight ('when a suburb is described as vibrant it means terrifying'). Personal experiences abounded through his routine and they introduced us to his absurd and sharp-witted world. He clearly won many fans in this 'large town with city status'. Britcom..edy is a bit of everything; a few hits, a few misses but as Southern said, "Jokes are like tadpoles, sometimes they just don't make it." |
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