Review: Midweek Comedy Cabaret, The Stand

Published on Wednesday 9 December 2009 09:24

Midweek Comedy Cabaret *** The Stand

CELEBRATING the strangeness seemed to be the plan at The Stand last night with a group of comics who looked at the world through some odd-coloured spectacles.

Stuart Murphy, the MC for the evening, stood apart from the skewed fray, taking the role of genial mine host.

He gave the audience a gentle poke and a prod and despite the relatively poor turnout, managed to warm the crowd up to a nice simmer on a cold Tuesday evening.

First up was Garry Dobson. Hirsute and possessing a mobile face that looked like it had been created by Jim Henson's creature workshop, Dobson nervously-paced the stage and informed the audience. He offered them filth and puns and didn't disappoint on either score.

He had a wonderful degenerate skill for imagery and his paciderm-based simile for his own material was as accurate as it was disgusting.

Whilst the filth was brilliantly realised, the puns were less successful, being the sort of thing that Tim Vine would have put in the shredder for being too corny. Just as his act was in danger of falling flat, however, he pulled it back on track with a couple of trips to dirty town and left the audience with some very disturbing pictures indeed.

The double bill of comics after the interval were at the heart of the evening's oddness. John Whale, who looked like a refugee from an indie band, began his set with a routine about the NME, not an obvious comedy target but one that generated some good gags. His core material was about the recent Michael Jackson seance on TV which, although ludicrous enough in itself, he managed to ring more laughs from with his unique and oddball commentary on it.

Leaving the stage with blisteringly smart and funny piece of performance poetry, Whale gave an unpolished, uneven act, but one that suggests big things for the future.

Derek Johnston, a comic with a bizarre delivery, and an almost willfully haphazard act featuring a series of verbal tics and visual gags, was a great hit on the evening with his very odd slant on some standard comedy targets.

He managed to twist an ancient gag into three weirdly hilarious ones and played with the usual form and structure to great effect. The crowd were amused and bemused by him in equal measure.

Headlining for the evening was Andy Sir, a quirky comic who although initially seemed to be on a conventional observational track seemed to veer off wildly towards the end of his act with some material which bordered on attempts at a theology or philosophy lesson. Still more interesting than many comics normal shtick, it clearly lost many of the crowd.

This was an interesting, original, if not totally successful evening. Whale and Johnston in particular, although fascinating and at times brilliant were lucky in having an indulgent crowd, on another night the reaction may have been different. However, The Stand should be congratulated for offering such bold, bizarre, eccentric fun.