Fat Tuesdays
Since I first saw comedian Greg Davies at The Comedy Store a few months ago, and pretty much laughed consistently throughout his performance, I have been on the look out to catch him again. I clearly didn't research hard enough but there seemed to be little about him on the web so I gave up/forgot about it. Then by luck I happened to see him outside my cinema, so thought I might ask him when he was next doing a show, but alas!- halfway there I realized he was with other comedians including Harry Hill and bottled it, knowing I would probably embarrass myself shouting something incomprehensible at him. I also realized I was getting a parking ticket across the road and spent the next ten minutes shouting incomprehensibly at the traffic warden instead.
Anyway, I digress. When a friend e-mailed me that he was appearing at Fat Tuesday, a comedy night in The Salmon and Compass bar in Angel, I booked tickets immediately. The show was above the bar in a fairly small room, which probably seated 60 of us or so on chairs with a few sofas thrown into the mix. Great for creating a cosy, ‘we’re all in this together, laughs or no laughs’ atmosphere, not so great if like me, you live in mortal fear of being picked out of the crowd and humiliated. Luckily, this treatment was reserved for the front row.
First up, Jack Whitehall was certainly one of the best acts of the night. “I’m middle-class, and I don’t want any trouble”, he opened with. The rest of his performance was full of good observational humour, like the dinner party conversation you might hear when one Gap year traveler encounters another. He had a slow drawl and was fairly acerbic, rather like Jack Dee, but when impersonating a character would put a lot of energy into it, giving the act a healthy diversity. My favorite part was when he managed to turn the tables on his audience; after a joke about Princess Diana produced minimal laughs, causing a man to sarcastically cheer, he shot back: “Cheering the death of the People’s Princess? Not cool.”
Not all the comedy was spot-on. Both solo females were fist-bitingly cringey. What is it with female stand-ups these days? One started talking about winter shorts on girls (hint: a pubic gag) and the second woman finished with a base-level Jewish joke; the fact she was Jewish herself did not excuse the lack of wit. They didn’t have the right balance in manner; the first came across as annoyingly arrogant, the second - too nervous, which meant her jokes lacked conviction. French and Saunders had it spot on in their Comic Strip days and I don’t think I’ve seen a woman rival either since.
Last of all was Greg Davies. A 6ft 8inch giant, with a Rik Mayall look about him he was an expert story-teller, setting up scenes and characters beautifully, doing every trick possible to place you in the situation. Often using his family as a basis for jokes, he depicted his gruff, deranged elderly father and naïve mother in such a convincing way that I was sure all the stories were true. If I had to criticise one element it would be that I had heard most of the stories in his last performance. However, the fact he could still make me laugh just as hard speaks volumes of his talent. Rather like when you see a DJ twice in six months who repeats some of his tracks, if they add some new ones and mix well, it can still be a good set.
Tuesday night is a great night to catch some comedy. You can be entertained all evening and go to bed at a reasonable hour. The Salmon and Compass is a fantastic little venue that puts on quality comedians and for just £6, I would highly recommend it.
