Comedy review: Catherine Tate

By The Newsroom
Published 12th Nov 2016, 07:00 BST
Updated 16th Nov 2016, 16:30 BST
Catherine Tate as Nan, Lauren, Bernie and some of her many other guisesCatherine Tate as Nan, Lauren, Bernie and some of her many other guises
Catherine Tate as Nan, Lauren, Bernie and some of her many other guises
Notwithstanding a couple of specials for her foul-mouthed Nan character and repeats, The Catherine Tate Show hasn't been seen on television since 2007, so this new live show incarnation is asking a fair bit of an audience's recollection.

SECC, Glasgow ***

Bolshie schoolgirl Lauren once performed a sketch with Tony Blair for Comic Relief. Yet here Tate borrowed Matt Lucas’ “yes but no but ...” catchphrase from Little Britain for her - a knowing nod to interviewer Charlie Stayt’s recent confusion of the two on BBC Breakfast.

Tate herself fluffed her lines on a number of occasions but amusingly rolled with the cock-ups, ably supported by long-time co-star Mat Horne, new writing partner Brett Goldstein and Niky Wardley.

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This is a show that improves dramatically as it goes on, because frankly, it has to. Inexplicably, it opens with Tate as Irish nurse Bernie, inappropriately flirting with a patient’s son (Horne) with leaden innuendo, reaching its nadir with the hirsute Goldstein’s arrival in drag and dodgy Irish accent.

Without television’s snappy cutting, the show as a whole lacks strong punchlines to close sketches and the cast endure long, twirling dances to distract from this as they get off stage.

Fortunately, there are some amusing pre-filmed inserts featuring Tate and Goldstein as sound technicians and another with Nan bewildering the game Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw.

The show really picks up in the second half, with furiously in-denial gay pensioner Derek flouncing with amusingly aggrieved affront, and Nan bringing the curtain down with the help of Scottish comedy royalty.

JAY RICHARDSON