Miles Jupp: Everyday Rage and Dinner Party Chit Chat

Miles Jupp: Everyday Rage and Dinner Party Chit Chat

21 July, 2008
by: Emma

Based on the title of Miles Jupp's new show, I'm expecting to like it, as I frequently get into everyday rages and am not averse to a spot of dinner party chit chat, as long as politics is kept out of it. Jupp is famous for playing the upper-class Archie in children's TV show Balamory, but is also a comedian in his own right. He was nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe 2003, and also won the 'So You Think You're Funny?' competition and the Leicester Festival Comedian of The Year Award in 2001. This is his third solo show, and is based on anecdotes and musings ranging from his 'Intermittent Rage Disorder' (where the red mist quickly descends and then leaves) to embarrassing episodes over the course of his life.

Dressed in a smart, navy suit and brown brogues, he tells colourful tales from his past peppered with sharp and self-effacing jokes. He speaks for an hour and I could have listened for two. None of his stories are ground-breaking revelations. Some I think many people will have experienced themselves but he speaks very eloquently, painting a vivid picture of varying ridiculous situations he has found himself in, inducing a constant stream of giggles from the audience throughout - no mean feat for an hour-long speech with no breaks.

He can clearly handle improv too, even though his show isn't the kind that involves much audience participation. As Jupp talks about how unfriendly Brits are to Scots, someone shouts out they are from Glasgow and he responds with a snappy joke about Glaswegian Monopoly and its abundance of 'Go To Jail' spaces. He paints a vivid caricature of himself, ranging from someone who needs rules and is furious to find himself being 'ghosted' in a Laser Quest game, to being scared by aggressive football chants on the train: "I thought: someone has to do something, but clearly not me as I'm in the middle of a perfectly good book..." His stories about flying into brief fits of rage you can wholly identify with and are yet funnier than any similar situation you may have been in. A particularly good story involves him missing a flight due to a late connection, losing his rag with Easyjet staff and smashing his hand luggage into their stand, only to find he has to check into the same place for his next flight. Another rage is focused on some Leicester council members heckling one of his shows with some very embarassing consequences.

The evening ends with a few quick-fire cheese-based puns where the audience are encouraged to shout out answers e.g: "What do you call a Soviet gathering in an East Midland city? – Red Leicester." This for me is the perfect amount of participation and doesn't involve the piss being taken out of my job/clothes/place of dwelling. I really enjoyed and liked Miles Jupp, he has a very endearing and earnest quality to his comedy not to mention being very well-spoken, and not just in the posh sense. If you get the chance, go and see him. Just keep your heckling in check.

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Emma