Sunday Special

Darren Maskell and I returned to Up The Creek last night for Sunday Special, south east London's premier sabbath stand-up show. UTC has been refurbished since we last visited and the stage is now on the opposite side of the room. It's also been given a wood panelling effect and a brick wall backdrop rendolent of US comedy clubs in the 1980s. There are also various curios littered around the wall like brass instruments and what appeared to be a mannequin head. As MC John Robins pointed out, it gave the club the look of any number of midrange restaurants. Despite combatting a hangover, Robins was in decent form and elicited some interesting audience responses. Although one hopes he did a bit more research ahead of his appearance on an upcoming episode of "Drunk History" regarding the Battle of Waterloo.

The crowd seemed be closer together which gave an improved atmosphere when compared to some of the gigs I've seen at Up The Creek. But that may well have had as much to do with the people as the layout, as headliner Sara Pascoe rightly complimented the audience at the close of her set. It was a winning mix of observational material and stranger ideas with some salient points in the mix too.

Nish Kumar opened with a solid 20 minutes, with a stand-out routine on the threat Monopoly poses to our children and an impressive closer regarding his indignation at the laziness of a particular interview for a comedy festival. He's most enjoyable on personal issues and here that came in discussing his feelings about turning 30. An eloquent, assured and adept set.


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