Resofit
Off to the Bloomsbury then, for the annual Resofit benefit for Resonance FM.
I've probably seen Daniel Kitson more than any other comedian other the past ten years. I'm ultimately very biased about him. I will always enjoy watching him do stand-up and as MC he was on sparkling form, riffing silly ideas off the top of his head, bantering (his mock indignation at a pregnant couple of latecomers was a particular delight) and warming the audience up to perfection. The perfect host and the funniest comedic performer in the UK. I'm not prepared to debate that.
Stewart Lee was up first. I had a conversation with one of my friends on Facebook in the small hours of this morning. Of Mr Lee, I said "He is both one of my favourite comedians and supremely frustrating". Last night's was a technically accomplished performance but I couldn't exactly endorse the subject matter. I'm uncomfortable with the notion (as expressed by Lee) that anyone who flies an England flag outside their house is definitely racist. Obviously I can accept differences of opinion.
The central point of the routine seemed to be Lee commenting on Paul Nuttall of UKIP saying that anyone who mocked UKIP on stage should be banned from performing in theatres. This led to an extended sequence about Lee calling his cat "Paul Nuttall of UKIP". I'll be honest, I think ripping into UKIP is like shooting fish in a barrel and as a left wing comedian, Lee is preaching to the converted. So building a half hour routine off the back of the subject (presumably for an upcoming episode of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle) feels somewhat redundant.
Kevin Eldon took the stage next, full of madcap energy barking out lines about the good old days. An extended bit about pre-decimal currency was a particular highlight, ramping up the absurdity as he went along. I suspect he would have run out of momentum had he continued along those lines for much longer but over 15 minutes, Eldon's surrealist schtick was an enjoyable change of pace.
After the interval came Lewis Schaffer. I'd heard a number of things about the 57 year old New Yorker, namely that he was something of an eccentric performer. He started strongly by mocking Kitson and Lee and comparing them with his position in the world as a bewildered ageing Jewish comedian. He spent the remaining half of his set with some observations about a woman he broke up with in the 1960s because she had a penis. Whether there was a greater point to be made about transgender people was lost on me and it felt like an underdeveloped idea.
The night closed with a half hour set from Newcastle folk singer Richard Dawson. He seemed to split the room (and indeed split myself and Darren Maskell). Rough round the edges with frequent outbreaks of solo ballads, if a five minute song about a horse being beaten to death in Gateshead sounds like your sort of thing, you need look no further. Dawson undeniably has a great vocal talent and I'm pleased this sort of thing has a place to exist, even if it's not to my taste.
I've probably seen Daniel Kitson more than any other comedian other the past ten years. I'm ultimately very biased about him. I will always enjoy watching him do stand-up and as MC he was on sparkling form, riffing silly ideas off the top of his head, bantering (his mock indignation at a pregnant couple of latecomers was a particular delight) and warming the audience up to perfection. The perfect host and the funniest comedic performer in the UK. I'm not prepared to debate that.
Stewart Lee was up first. I had a conversation with one of my friends on Facebook in the small hours of this morning. Of Mr Lee, I said "He is both one of my favourite comedians and supremely frustrating". Last night's was a technically accomplished performance but I couldn't exactly endorse the subject matter. I'm uncomfortable with the notion (as expressed by Lee) that anyone who flies an England flag outside their house is definitely racist. Obviously I can accept differences of opinion.
The central point of the routine seemed to be Lee commenting on Paul Nuttall of UKIP saying that anyone who mocked UKIP on stage should be banned from performing in theatres. This led to an extended sequence about Lee calling his cat "Paul Nuttall of UKIP". I'll be honest, I think ripping into UKIP is like shooting fish in a barrel and as a left wing comedian, Lee is preaching to the converted. So building a half hour routine off the back of the subject (presumably for an upcoming episode of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle) feels somewhat redundant.
Kevin Eldon took the stage next, full of madcap energy barking out lines about the good old days. An extended bit about pre-decimal currency was a particular highlight, ramping up the absurdity as he went along. I suspect he would have run out of momentum had he continued along those lines for much longer but over 15 minutes, Eldon's surrealist schtick was an enjoyable change of pace.
After the interval came Lewis Schaffer. I'd heard a number of things about the 57 year old New Yorker, namely that he was something of an eccentric performer. He started strongly by mocking Kitson and Lee and comparing them with his position in the world as a bewildered ageing Jewish comedian. He spent the remaining half of his set with some observations about a woman he broke up with in the 1960s because she had a penis. Whether there was a greater point to be made about transgender people was lost on me and it felt like an underdeveloped idea.
The night closed with a half hour set from Newcastle folk singer Richard Dawson. He seemed to split the room (and indeed split myself and Darren Maskell). Rough round the edges with frequent outbreaks of solo ballads, if a five minute song about a horse being beaten to death in Gateshead sounds like your sort of thing, you need look no further. Dawson undeniably has a great vocal talent and I'm pleased this sort of thing has a place to exist, even if it's not to my taste.
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