Reviews of comedy gigs in 2012

This page is part of the comedy section

Reviews of comedy gigs in Leicester in 2012

May 6th

Johny Lever. The King of Comedy, De Montfort Hall

By Harjinder Ohbi

Johny Lever is revered as one of the foremost Bollywood actor cum comedians in the world - with over with 400 hundred films under his belt. No wonder then - a man who started selling pens on the streets of Mumbai jettisoned himself into a household name where luck played its part from the onset. Judging by the almost full house at the De Montfort Hall Johny was given a warm welcome by city folk.

Johny Lever © Harjinder Ohbi

It is almost seven years ago when Johny first preformed at the De Montfort Hall. This time around he was accompanied by comedians Gaurav Sharma and Mahesh D for his first of two night concerts during the May Bank holiday break.

Abbass Aslam © Harjinder Ohbi

Abbass Aslam is a young up and coming singer. He opened the night and his catchy lyrics in the song Sona, featuring a mix of drum and bass, was received well by the audience.

If you wanted a belly full of laughs then this was the right place to be. Mahesh D is an award winning comedian in India who writes his own material.This was his first visit to the city and one comedian to look out for in the future. His imitation of an Indian train earned him a rapturous applause. He followed it with takes on Bollywood stars most notably Paresh Raval in his film Sur.

Mahesh D © Harjinder Ohbi

Comedian Gaurav Sharma is no stranger to the city. He is another award winning comedian who is fast making a name for himself. His ability to deliver sharp one liners aimed at the predominantly Gujarati community in the audience were well received. Gujarati people are very practical he joked, "A man takes his wife to see his mother in law. She says what have you done to my daughter whose wedding cost me 100,000 rupees? The husband said if you spent 550,000 rupees then you get a fish."

Johny Lever took time to warm up in the first half but the audience brought the best out of him as he joked "A man accidentally spits on another man's face and apologises profusely but the man says please spit on me again. Curious, the man spits again and then asks why do you want me to spit on you? The man answers 'cos my wife said not even a dog will spit on you.'"

So the jokes continued as did his dance routines from Bharatnatyam to Bhangra and a take on the late Michael Jackson's Black and white hit.

The second half was a little different as Mahesh D explored the Indian version of Who wants to be millionaire , following it through with cricket and Jackie Chan' s Kung Fu routines. Funny as it was, Gaurav Sharma unleashed more of his one liners to the delight of the audience. One that stood out for me was when his character is walking down the street with his pregnant wife and a man approaches them and says "Hey your wife is pregnant and he replies "no she has just swallowed a football".

Johny Lever on the other hand turned his humour around alcoholism and brought the audience into fits of laughter. An enjoyable night had by all on this first of two nights!

More about Jonny Lever on our Asian Arts page.

February 8th

Comedy club launches with a strong line-up

darrell marton stage at just the tonic show

Darrell Martin on stage at the Just the Tonic club

Just the Tonic cut the ribbon tonight at the launch of the new club in Leicester's Granby Street. All the seats were taken as compere Darrell Martin got the night going and introduced a line-up of really good acts.

Darrell soon got the crowd laughing heartily as he joked about various places in Leicester. Asking members of the audience where they were from, he got a variety of reactions and his comments had the locals laughing along with him.

First to take to the stage was Stuart Goldsmith whose fast-paced and very funny set kept the crowd chuckling. His lines were cleverly worked and his razor sharp delivery showed his technical brilliance as a stand up.

Just the Tonic, now occupying the same room as used to be used by Jongleurs, highlight and music venue Sub91, offered its guests a good night out with a menu of snacks and a selection of reasonably priced drinks to keep them feeling happy.

Who the hell is Stuart Goldsmith?

Surprised guests stood to attention at the start of the second half as the National Anthem was played and The Queen entered the room.

After having spent the day in Leicester, Her Majesty decided that going for a bit of a laugh would be the best way to chill out after a long day of official engagements. In her pill box hat and lime green coat, the Queen took her seat at the side of the stage and accepted a glass of wine from compere Darrell.

The whole episode was a brilliant piece of comic theatre, due mainly to the stunning resemblance of queen-look-alike actress Elizabeth, who has starred in many films and TV appearances.

On to the stage came local comedian Ben Hustwayte. Ben, a student at DMU, delivered a lively and confident performance with some really funny content. After a few minutes of energetic humour, his act got interrupted by The Queen who ticked him off for referring to her as "Her Royal Highness", a serious of breach of royal protocol and the impromptu banter that followed had the audience falling off their seats with laughter.

Her Majesty even took to the stage to deliver a round of jokes, showing that, amongst her many skills in international diplomacy, she also has a funny routine as a stand up. She once went into a shop to get a comb for Philip; having asked for the item, the assistant enquired "Steel one?" "Oh no," said the Queen, "I'll pay for it."

Once the Queen had settled back in her chair, Ben continued with his act, throwing out some one-liners that got the show-goers giggling. "Do you know", he asked the audience, "that the French do not have a word for Croissant! They use ours."

Leicester comic Chris Stokes took to the stage to deliver a set similar to the one that had been such a success at his appearance at the Cookie Jar for Dave's Comedy Festival. Playing on his youthful appearance and slight build, Chris told us that an official had knocked on the door, on seeing Chris, had asked "Is you mother in?". "No", he said, "is yours?"

Using his dry wit and slow delivery, Chris casually dropped in some clever cracks that kept the audience guffawing. He held the audience all the way through his set and kept the chortling coming. It's the way he tells them.

Chris Stokes at the Cookie Jar

Tonight's headline act Piff the Magic Dragon rounded off the night with his Cooper-esq mixture of comedy and magic tricks. With a constant flow of stunning tricks and deadpan humour, the man in the Dragon Costume brought something highly unusual to the comedy circuit. On stage were people brought from the audience and his side-kick Mr. Piffles, a real Chihuahua who helped out with the magic.

See more of Mr Piffles on Piff The Magic Dragon

A brilliant end to a great evening, everyone enjoyed the night and we are all looking forward to seeing some top name comics on the same stage over the next few months, including: Milton Jones, Michael Winslow (from the Police Academy films), and TV stars Sean Hughes Russell Kane and Ed Byrne and more.

Find more dates at Just the Tonic nights

February 13th

Kirsty Munro and Kate McCabe in Double Mint at the Looking Glass

By Sophie Hunt

A delightful evening with Katy McCabe and Kiri Pritchard McClain.

The entertainment at the Looking Glass began with the energetic Welsh comedian, Kiri McClain - a young woman sprung from Northern Wales and moving up through the comedy ranks of the UK.

Kiri chose to touch upon areas in life which everybody could relate to: nationality, relationships and amusing everyday anecdotes. Kiri was able to engage with members of the audience, utilising the perfect amount of audience interaction, enough so that she showed an interest but didn't become reliant on our responses for the next joke.

McClain joked about her physique, regaling us with stories of compromising situations she had found herself in, laden with cruel yet amusing characters. The audience felt both sympathetic and tickled by her situation, we could relate to the person's dilemma and at the same time find the joke hilarious.

She jested about her boyfriend and personal life with no reservations, inviting us to laugh at their bedroom antics and mishaps. McClain was tested when one relentless member of the audience, elderly Alf, offered up his opinions at every turn. She was able to weave the intruding character into the performance, gaining much applaud from the crowd all the while.

The use of a lull before a joke, culminating with a swear word, drew me in and was very effectively executed. McClain's set was a refreshing pleasure to watch, full of cringe worthy episodes and unfortunate happenings. She is definitely a comedian to remember.

Katy McCabe was next to the stage and with all of her American gusto, she stormed the venue. McCabe, despite the confines of the perhaps overwhelmed basement of The Looking Glass, launched full pelt, full volume, into her material. McCabe made many humorous comments about her nationality and her sexuality.

Having moved from America, she was able to give hilarious insights into the differences of living in the UK. McCabe pointed out her country's inability to pronounce certain English towns correctly, much to our amusement. She shared her bafflement at our television programmes and scoffed at our most renowned and delicious of foods, the Donner Kebab.

McCabe appealed to the audience through her differences and also similarities, she has experiences both places in the world as so can speak from both sides. McCabe thus ensures the audience is at ease with her as she has experienced England's popular culture of Come Dine With Me and Donner Kebab meat.

McCabe's stand up act was a thorough delight to watch and be a part of; I look forward to the next time.

Kirsty Munro was indisposed; her place tonight was taken by Kiri McClain.

Our rating: ****

February 12th

The History Girls at Manhattan34

Photo © Steve Bliss

Three mad cap girls put on a show of pythonesque sketches at the Manhattan34 bar in Rutland Street tonight. The comedic trio are writers for television. At their last showcase, they were approached by Objective Productions and are now working with Ben Farrell, filming sketches for BBC and developing ideas for their own TV show. They recently won an award at Manchester's Co-Filmic Comedy Festival, where they also won the admiration of producers Charlie Hanson (Rickie Gervais) and Leslie Udwin, who are now big supporters. Chortle reviews described the History Girls as "a sort of Bronte Python ... with a distinctive sense of offbeat humour."

Well I can go with that. Gone are the days when a comedian stood on stage and told jokes. Now, if you do not see an overhead projector, you wonder what's up. All the acts I have seen recently use some sort of screen or electronic gadgetry. There were several interludes in the show, when the projector came on to present animated pictures, along the lines of Terry Gilliam's iconic animations that accompanied the TV series of Monty Python.

The three girls began their tour of English history with Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Tudor and Mary Queen of Scots, transforming their characters into modern day Sloanettes, akin to the Ab Fab characters. Throughout the show, the sketches hopped about in time. One minute you were in the nineteenth century with the Bronte sisters and then in Roman times, interspersed with scenes from the Napoleonic era.

One of the girls played the piano - at various times - a very ably too, either to add some live background music or to accompany a song or two. Their skit on Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights brought some serious chuckles from the audience.

Their take on Napoleon, Josephine and Nelson brought out their strongest point - character acting. Whether performing as male or female parts, each of them had a knack at getting into role and portraying their part.

Overall the show was somewhat Footlights, very much like the kind of stuff I used to see at Student Union reviews. It was all rather slapstick and at times, saucy and provocative, but nevertheless peppered with moments of hilarity. As a huge fan of Python, I enjoyed their take on the seminal comedic team's style. Looking at this in the wider view, it's clearly not original and hangs on to a known genre rather than trying to forge something new and fresh.

Having said that, the girls came up with some seriously funny takes on English history and culture. Their use of hip-hop, sung in the era of Roman Britian, with Boudica doing some vivacious rapping, was something different. I also got a good laugh when the Bronte Sisters tried to come up with a title for Emily's new novel: Withering Hights, Shoveling Tights, Blubbering Dykes ... now that was funny.

Their show received a genuinely enthusiastic response from the audience. An irreverent satire, a buffet of burlesque and cavalcade of comicality. What won the night was the girl's ability to portray their characters and their strong personalities.

Our rating: ***

February 11th

Moon Horse vs. The Mars Men of Jupiter at the Criterion

By Scott Choucino

Photo © Scott Choucino

I was fortunate to end up at the Criterion pub on Saturday night for part of Dave's Comedy Festival. I had no idea what was in store for me when I arrived, but knowing that I would be in good company - with good ale - certainly helped ease me in.

For the next hour I had the privilege of watching the bizarre spectacle that was the adventures of Moon Horse and Jeffrey Livingstone. The Criterion was packed. As the lights were dimmed I got ready for a quaint four-part acoustic rock opera, performed by two men and a hobby horse.

The script was based around Jeffrey Livingstone's secret trip to the moon, where, with the help of a moon horse and a tin man, he saves the earth from invaders. All is going well until Margaret Thatcher and the Martians from Jupiter manage to take over the world. This political satirical offering pulls heavily on decades gone by, accumulating in the big society, saving the day.

The songs were simple four chords pieces with witty lyrics and catchy choruses. There was a mixture of Bowie Odyssey, the Mighty Boosh and a twist of Charilie the Unicorn. Which made for great enjoyment. "I've done something evil, I designed the interface for the self service till ... unexpected item in the bagging area ", Snippet from one of the songs.

They had a great fan base from the last time they performed in Leicester. I would fully recommend going to see them if you fancy a slightly surreal, cabaret version of have I got news for you!

Our rating: *****

February 8th

James Mullinger at the Looking Glass

I went to see James Mullinger last year when he performed at the Crumblin' Cookie. It was nice to see him again because he is an entertaining performer. Tonight all the seats were taken; James can fill a room even here in Leicester. Just before the show, I asked him how things were going. "I've been really busy since we last met", he told me, "and I've been doing some work for TV."

Appearing for one night at the Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival, his performance at the Looking Glass was an intimate experience. His fast-paced delivery involved quite a bit of audience interaction. He frequently fired questions and jibes at individuals in the room, pulling them into the show and getting some laughs from the others. Everyone seemed to enjoy this, partly because James was good at doing this kind of stuff.

James's act is an hilariously funny narrative on his life experiences, starting with his school days (the subject of the show he did last year.) This year's show The Man with no Shame, saw some new material from the Mullinger diaries coming off the mic. Recollections from his troubled teenage years.

His hour on stage was a non-stop narrative, pumped out with considerable energy and delivering some really funny anecdotes and stories, as he waved his familier diaries in the air. Engaging and hilarious comedy from a man who packs a punch.

Our rating: *****

February 6th

Reshape While Damp at the Crumblin' Cookie

By Karen McCandless

Dave's Leicester Comedy festival kicked off last week, bringing a wide variety of performances in all shapes and forms to the city across a number of different venues. On Sunday and Monday night, The Crumblin' Cookie played host to Reshape While Damp, a show fresh from a run at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival.

Reshape While Damp was billed as 'two funny women, two monologues, two songs', and the show delivered exactly what it said on the tin. Naomi Paul and Jenny Stokes, two well established actresses hailing from the Midlands, presented their differing takes on life through a monologue and a song a piece. Their styles, however, could not have been more different.

Naomi delivers her monologue in a deadpan and dry style; it's quite subtle and understated. But it's a really clever brand of humour - Naomi's half of the show is very well written and constructed. Her facial expressions and mannerisms perfectly complement the character she plays - a bit lacking in confidence but still very likeable. It's also a well-observed look at some of the mundane problems of daily life. From the accidental trip to the flirting course to her fellow attendees at her other accidental trip to the comedy writing course, it was all very real.

In the second half, Jenny Stokes plays Dolly Grip, a chatty and fairly opinionated lady who mistakenly thought she was at the Nitter Natter group. She's a big fan of knitting you see and her 'lifestyle guru' thought she should get out more and join some clubs because she's a 'knitter'. Or at least Dolly thinks that's what she said ... Outspoken and loud and never short of an opinion, Dolly is very easy to warm to. Her style of humour is laugh-out-loud stuff. It's slightly shocking, but mainly because you don't expect some of the content to come out of this lady's mouth! Dolly is also a very recognisable character - everybody will know somebody like her.

Both women completely immerse themselves in their character - dressing and acting the part. A special mention goes to John Mattick, who accompanied the songs from both ladies on guitar. Overall, the night was thoroughly enjoyable and a break from the comedy norm.

Our rating: ***

February 6th

Topping and Butch at the Y

Notes from a purple diary

After a dramatic Wagnerian intro', the two stars of tonight's show appeared on stage and broke into a funky song. Straight Life was a tong-in-cheek gloss on sexual orientation and masculinity. The pair asked the audience to put their hands up if there were "any straight men in the house." They did find a couple of them. To the request "are there any gay boys in the house", the response was a forest of hands. Later in the show, they discovered two lesbians in the balcony. This was the cue to break into a song about them: saucy would be an under statement. Cheeky it was, but in good humour.

The 'odd' thing about this particular act was that they didn't appear in drag. Having said that, their costumes for the second half were ... well, what can I say, outrageous, with Butch in a pair of tight, skimpy briefs and some pink bondage gear. The audience tonight were treated to some of the oldest jokes in the book, alongside some very upbeat new ones. Launching into a song about Labour Leader, Ed Miliband, they demonstrated their aptitude for topical satire. That, combined with a song about the war in Afghanistan, showed that there is nothing they would not dare to joke about.

Many of the songs, around which their act was oriented, were like good 'ole music hall. I say there was nothing they dared not tackle; well they got gold of the famous old song "Sisters, Sisters", replacing the 'S' with an 'F'; now that was really very funny. They got away with it because it was all done in the best possible taste. They are never out to shock, just to amuse, knowing that, with that audience, their double entendres and polari (let alone the outright references to sex) are going to be understood.

Old school comic entertainment with a camp edge. These two hilariously funny men proved they knew how to entertain a crowd. Two very singular characters, their stage provided a grand piano and an electronic keyboard, to go with the pre-recorded tracks that they occasionally used. It was a musical set, with a lot of raw and bawdy humour between (and in) the songs. It was a bit like a version of Round The Horne for the twenty first century. Topping donned a street top and baseball hat and joined Butch for a bit of hip-hop.

Having played Leicester a few times before, they clearly have a following and the room was full for their performance. One song went down particularly well with the audience: I lost my heart to a gay bar bouncer, (in place of star ship trooper) apparently dedicated to a door supervisor at the famous Nightingale's Club in Birmingham's gay village.

Leaning on the well known, tried and tested art of the naughty double entendre, mixed with lashings of bitchy remarks between themselves and targeted patrons in the room, the two comics kept the laughter coming throughout their two hour show. Drag? Who needs it? With Butch's powerful singing voice and the ageing Topping's jokes about old age and its embarrasing informities, and his razor-sharp gay wise-cracking, this was a night of sustained comedy and traditional entertainment.

Naughty but nice.

Our rating: ***

February 4th

Chris Stokes at the Cookie Jar

An Opera written on Napkins

My first visit to the new basement room at the 'Cookie. The bar upstairs remains as a bar and the gigs take place now in the theatre downstairs. I was there to see Leicester comedian Chris Stokes.

Despite the heavy snowfall on the outside, Chris had attracted a respectably large crowd on the inside. So, Chris took the stage and congratulated the "faithful of Leicester" for braving the weather and the protesting marchers of earlier in the day. We dismissed the spectre of the EDL by laughing at Chris's jokes about them. Off to a good start, the young comedian soon gained a rapport with his audience. He explained that much of his narrative comedy act was about himself, particularly the fact that he had been dubbed a "geeky adolescent when young." His storyline wound its way through his school days, his family, his grand ma, his low sense of self-worth as a youth, etc. There was some very smart material in there.

Nothing like fresh and original material to make you warm to a new comedian. This erstwhile vegan geek actually came across as a plausible and likeable individual, armed with a gallery of quotes from his grandma and an endearing character to go with them. His on-stage persona was dry but be had a twinkle in this eye and a smile on his face, so you could tell he was enjoying his performance as much as the audience was.

His observations on life and experience kept the chuckles coming and you could tell it was more than polite laughter. People gave the kind of chortles that are genuine.

Our rating: ****

See Chris Stokes on line.

February 5th

Daniel Simonsen at the Looking Glass

Just by sheer chance, the next act I went to see bore some similarities to the last one. Daniel Simonsen is Norwegian and over here to do the Leicester Comedy festival and, later on in the year, the one in Edinburgh. So, tonight's gig was a preview for what he plans to do in August, when up north. I say preview - actually that's what Daniel called it - but to be honest it was more of a dress rehearsal.

The small downstairs room at the Looking Glass provides an intimate setting which can work quite well. I have been in that room many times listening to bands, so I know what's like as a place. Standing on the low stage near the entry door, Daniel explained that the "microphone is not working". No worries. He was clearly audible and probably better off without it.

Like Chris, Daniel had a dry wit. His Norwegian accent gave this a twist. A little like an Ali G character, his English was very good but it had that somewhat odd Nordic sound which, I thought, helped him along. He has the kind of accent that actors are coached to imitate; but for him, that's how he normally speaks.

Despite being a social misfit, he explained to the audience, and someone who found it very difficult to fit in with 'normal', outgoing people, this young Scandinavian stand-up had quite a lot of charm and a good sense of humour. In fact, the more the hour went on the more the audience warmed to him.

I think everyone might have been a little dubious at first; unsure of what they were about to see. Daniel's first few minutes flowed briskly enough and the laughs started coming quickly enough. He is one of those engaging characters that grow on you. He did come out with some funny comments, during his hour long narrative about his life and times.

What was somewhat impressive was that he talked about English things and the English way of life: Council Tax, flat mates, living on benefits. Despite his usually dead pan expression, he could pull some hilarious faces. What you look at during his act is his face. He doesn't march up and down on the stage - it was too small for that anyway - so as he stood rooted to one place, you were looking at his face, well, that is where the comedy was coming from.

Mildly self-deprecating, engagingly odd (by TV comedian standards), the man with the funny voice, bonded with certain members in the room, even though he "didn't normally pick on people in the audience."

Daniel announced at the start of his set that he was "going to talk about a list of topics", and then regularly looked at his prompt sheet to see what he was supposed to be talking about. He said he was going to be on stage, talking, for an hour. Indeed, with grim Scandinavian diligence, he stuck to his scheduled sixty minutes. Towards the end, however, there was some pregnant pauses while he struggled to expand his material into the time available. Like the consummate comic that he is, he managed to make these lacunae part the act.

He gradually warmed up and began to reveal a warm and engaging personality with a rather original and humorous take on life. He knew that, in this country, some acts could face a wall of death. This, I am happy to say, was not his experience tonight. He kept the room amused and the laughs kept coming. Not a rapid fire stand-up like the seasoned comics you see on the TV; his measured delivery was articulate and confident.

So what did he talk about? Well, one of the stories he told about his social awkwardness was seeing someone he knew, in the street and saying to himself "Oh hello!." But doing this "thirty meters before I got to them." When they passed, he looked somewhere else, as though he had not seen them and then looked up in surprise and said "Oh hello. I didn't see you there." His narrative had many such detailed accounts of daily life. He came out with some really funny one-liners, too, just by being himself and chatting away as he usually would. You felt he was not putting on an act; he was putting on himself. "Realness", someone in the audience commented.

An engaging new comedian; well worth going to see. Hopefully he will return to Leicester when he has plied his act in Edinburgh.

Our rating: ****

See our pre-show interview with Daniel Simonsen

See our review of two Swedish comedians.

Other pages you might like:

Film reviews

Rock gig reviews

Reviews of singers and acoustic artists

Comedy gig reviews in 2011