I love a bit of comedy. Yes, I’m a picky person, but generally anyone setting out to make me laugh has a ready and willing partner, as long as I’m not picked on. Thus, I never sit in the front row!
With the Adelaide Festival and Fringe Festival on in town, I was spoiled for choice. On the night after I arrived, there were tickets available for the ‘Best of British Comedy’ night being held at a Belgian Bar near the hotel. Seemed like an easy win.
I was early and decided to have a beer for a change (after all the wine in Adelaide, it was time for something different!). I thought, I’ll have a lager… what did they have? Stella… you may be aware that’s a very normal lager available in nearly any pub in Dublin and not expensive… except for in Adelaide. It was treated as a premium and cost about 9 Euro for a bit less than a pint! I nursed that beer for a while!
The venue turned out to be a function room above the pub and was not oversubscribed! Maybe 40 or 50 seats were set out and I got one in the back row.
Apart from the MC, who clearly had drunk all the alcohol and smoked all the cigarettes available that day, teed up the bill. It was three comedians I had never heard of and I didn’t write down their names.
Up first, a man from Newcastle who had married a Syrian/Muslim lady and was quite good at exploring his existence as a Beta Male. Not bad.
Up second, a wry take-off of Harry Hill but with a guitar who dealt with his existence as whatever is less assertive than a Beta Male. He left lots of room for laughs between jokes, in fact, too much room as nobody laughed for the first two thirds of his act. I think he could grow on you when you got to know him a bit on a panel show? Apparently voted UK’s Comedian of the Year by other comedians. I googled this afterwards and couldn’t find any mention of him!
He did play the guitar a teeeeeny bit.
Last up was another comedian who it appeared had taken all the drugs he could find. He was hungover, grumpy and rude and that was just his schtick. He did a lot of “I don’t mind gays, but…” (insert marginal group of choice) and that became really dull really quickly. Not my cup of tea and didn’t go down well with the crowd.
The price of tickets for these events was minimal – 10 or 15 pounds per person, so I suppose you’re not going to get Chris Rock or Ellen Degeneres above a pub in Adelaide – but it’s a good way to hear new talent and get a clue of what they’re going after. Everyone needs to start somewhere!