What was your last comedy gig?

Mrs S doesn’t share my taste in music so doesn’t come to concerts with me but we both like a good laugh so comedy gigs are the next best thing.

We are lucky enough to be near ‘The Westie’ which is an excellent small venue much liked by comedians as the audience is appreciative and responsive but with very little negative heckling. Many use it as a warm up for tours or for the Edinburgh Festival so we get to see comedians in an intimate venue.

We have seen Mark Watson there several times, he is very funny. We were in the front row last time - usually not a good idea but we were safe with him. He actually started one gig sitting in the back row and surprised the lady sitting next to him when he struck up a converstion with her about Mark Watson - she hadn't heard of him but had come with a friend, he then revealed who he was.

Some of the comedians we have seen there over the years include Lucy Porter (who shared her coffee and biscuits with seagull jr), Tim Minchin (my signed Canvas Bag is just the right size for transporting records!), John Bishop, Frank Skinner, Steve Merchant (co-writer of the Office), The last two, although the best known of that group, were the most disappointing.

So far this year we have seen (not all at the Westie) ...

Dara O'Briain - excellent, extremely likeable and very quick on his feet.

Chris Addison - very funny, I think he is one of several comedians who use comedy as personal therapy.

Reginald D Hunter - slightly disappointed - he wasn't as sharp as I expected

Tom Wrigglesworth - Had the audience on his side before he even started as he was the comedian who organised a whip round for a poensioner when a rail jobsworth charged her a fortune for a journey she already had a ticket for but was on a slightly earlier train.

Rhod Gilbert - Welsh ranting at it's finest. Even the reprise of his problems with baggage handlers is funny even though I'd seen it several times before.

Idiots of Ants - a rather strange comedy sketch group. Nice bunch of lads we had a long chat with them afterwards.

Milton Jones - bizarre but had me in stitches from his first one liner.

Al Murray – he had been booked for a warm up gig back in spring but he was ill and had to cancel but he still came back anyway even though his tour was over!

Future gigs booked…

Next Friday Punt and Dennis – last time we saw them they were notable for being extremely funny and NOT swearing! Despite all the clever satirical humour the highlight was Hugh Dennis’ velociraptor.

Sarah Millican! Looking forward to seeing her, glad to hear that she can be that funny.

Others booked Sean Lock, Mark Steel, Milton Jones (again).

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but it's about 7 years since our last comedy gig. We went to the filming of an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, hosted by Mark Lamaar. The show was a hoot, but the highlight was Mark's own warm up session. After half an hour I couldn't laugh anymore as my face and stomach were in pain. I hadn't laughed so much since Alexi Sayle back in the early 80s.

Tony

The velociraptor is priceless as is also his trapeze stunt - saw him do these at a Now Show recording a few years back in Portsmouth.

The genius that is Rich hall in a couple of weeks.

I have to agree that Rich Hall is a comedy god - I usually dislike comedy songs but his Otis Crenshaw is absolutely fantastic.
Also saw Frankie Boyle who went through the motions and treated his audience with absolute contempt . Best avoided until he learns some humility.

Regards

Glenda