Laugh Out London: Paul Sinha
Following McLoughlin came Paul Sinha's preview "Postcards From The Z List", which was largely based upon Sinha's experiences in the past four years since his last Edinburgh show. In that time, he has become best known for appearing on daytime ITV quiz show "The Chase". Sinha also ended a 20 year relationship drought after dating one of the show's contestants and became an uncle for the first time. An underlying theme of the show is "L'esprit de l'escalier",
or what Sinha should have said in various situations involving
politicians and notable public figures in a trip to the Houses of
Parliament. And Phil Tufnell.
He flits expertly between these topics, gradually building up a profile of his new life on "the Z list" with top class gags to reinforce the narrative. I will be surprised if I hear anything at the Edinburgh Fringe next month that makes me laugh as much as one of Sinha's punchlines, which I can't do justice to in print but will merely say that it involves The New Testament.
What surprised me a little having seen Sinha before was the acerbic nature of some of his material this time out, with rather spiky references to the likes of Shrien Dewani. It's unlikely many will object to that, but one of the set's early jokes might be of interest to a certain Labour MP. The show possesses a certain underlying political edge, which hits a particularly high point when Sinha mocks Ed Miliband's decision to visit Russell Brand on the eve of this year's general election. I pretty much abhor stand-up audiences applauding at any time other than the beginning and the end of someone's set, but he so squarely hit the nail on the head here that I couldn't help myself.
This was a slick, superbly structured and practically fully formed show. As Sinha himself admitted, pretty much all that was missing was a more coherant ending to tie up the narrative threads. Go and see it.
He flits expertly between these topics, gradually building up a profile of his new life on "the Z list" with top class gags to reinforce the narrative. I will be surprised if I hear anything at the Edinburgh Fringe next month that makes me laugh as much as one of Sinha's punchlines, which I can't do justice to in print but will merely say that it involves The New Testament.
What surprised me a little having seen Sinha before was the acerbic nature of some of his material this time out, with rather spiky references to the likes of Shrien Dewani. It's unlikely many will object to that, but one of the set's early jokes might be of interest to a certain Labour MP. The show possesses a certain underlying political edge, which hits a particularly high point when Sinha mocks Ed Miliband's decision to visit Russell Brand on the eve of this year's general election. I pretty much abhor stand-up audiences applauding at any time other than the beginning and the end of someone's set, but he so squarely hit the nail on the head here that I couldn't help myself.
This was a slick, superbly structured and practically fully formed show. As Sinha himself admitted, pretty much all that was missing was a more coherant ending to tie up the narrative threads. Go and see it.
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