Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Long Live Comedy: 04/06/13

Stephen 'Friz' Frizzle here with a report about the night of comedy that is Long Live. What a great turn out! About thirty people piled into the tiny attic above the Dog and Parrot to watch a night of comedy. We started ransacking chairs and stools from various cupboards to construct an impromptu couple of back rows. With that, the night began! I provided vaguely-related songs between the acts and attempted to keep the night together. But the line-up was outstanding.

Kicking off the night was Hebburn's Steffen Peddie with some new stuff. A top ten countdown of why The EDL should never have entered Newcastle entertained the audience. Steffen brought along his friend, newcomer Steve Halcyon, whose set went down a treat. His presence on stage as the confident friendly bear that he is captivated the room, and his presentation of jokes could easily be compared to those who had been in the business for year. It was impressive that it was his first ever attempt at stand-up. Definitely one to keep an eye on. Paul Gerrard followed with a good twenty-or-so jokes about paying for sex. This act was closed by Tim Strange, whose Canadian antics are always a treat to watch.

In the interval, a couple in the audience approached me with a request:

"Will there be any old school comedians?"
"Excuse me?", I said
"You know... Tommy Cooper"
"I honestly don't think Tommy Cooper will be here"
"We don't want Jimmy Carr or anything"
"... I honestly don't think Jimmy Carr will be here"

With the interval out the way, it was time to start Act 2. The Irish brogue of newcomer Chris Arbuthnot was a joy to watch. Lauren Pattison took the reigns afterwards, which was refreshing after five well built men on the stage, with her foirees into the single life and cheese rants. You rarely get cheese rants nowadays in comedy.

Manchester's Calvin Fieldhouse also decided to debut his first step into comedy at this night's Long Live. Telling stories about blowjobs and masturbation, it was definitely something that happened. Sean Turner followed with some new material, and had a delightful moment when an audience member heckled something genuinely funny. 

Closing the night was Luke Milford, finishing on his chat show where he managed to convince someone that Fred West was the man who made the tuna, and ended up dancing on stage in a singlet to the tune of Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". In the words of Captain McAllister, that's going to replace the whale in my nightmares.

A great, fun and relatively cheap night of comedy.