The Funny Side of Covent Garden

The Funny Side of Covent Garden

21 July, 2008
by: Greavsie123

As a rule of thumb a night of stand-up is rarely a surefire hit. Besides the acts themselves, the venue, the audience and the tenderness of the dog in black-bean sauce you had in China Town beforehand all play a big part in determining whether the evening hits the right note. With these criteria in mind, the Funny Side of Covent Garden must be saluted for covering most, if not all of these bases and providing a thoroughly enjoyable night.

Three comedians: Kevin Dewsbury, Henning Wehn and Milton Jones, shared a strong bill compered by the house's own Paul Collini, in a venue that Wehn succintly described as 'a nice bunker' just off Covent Garden. Wehn, the self-styled 'German ambassador of comedy', quickly got the 80-something crowd (in number not age) on his side with a predictable yet amusing dissection of the German mistrust of humour, before progressing to an engaging mix of physical and verbal comedy. To look at Wehn is to like him - a loping gait coupled with a goofy grin and tousled hair, serves to disguise what is an imposing presence.

Unsurprisingly, Anglo-Germanic relations form the crux of his act, and accordingly it is accompanied by an edgy underlying tension. He is not afraid to broach sensitive areas, on one occasion tricking the audience into joining in a Nazi anthem, before passing it off with a thought-provoking comment on the sheep mentality: "You see, that is the same mistake we made. A simple mistake". Coventry is flattened yet again, while a German player's racist abuse of the footballer Anton Ferdinand is no more than “good natured nationalism. How could a German-speaker know that a monkey is a racist term in colloquial English?".

Perhaps realising he had surfed into dangerous waters, he quickly reigned himself in to finish as he started, a German who allows himself to be mocked and patronised by an English audience, yet is, crucially, liked and laughed with at the same time.

Wehn's arrival on stage had been something of a mutually beneficial arrangement, as he encountered an audience for whom the only way was up after twenty minutes spent enduring the neuroses of Kevin Dewsbury. Dewsbury's act was boring, formulaic and stale. A static opening in which he (correctly) likened himself to a computer repair-man gave credence to the foreboding words of his profile which promised, "at the age of just 8 months he fell ten feet down a stairwell and banged his head on a newspaper rack. People have been laughing at him ever since". For this reviewer, comedy provides an escape from the everyday, but an evening with Dewsbury is akin to a being stuck in a pub, trussed, gagged, and forced to listen while a friend gives you a monologue of his insecurities. Fine, but I have actual friends for that. I'm still undecided as to what was more disturbing, the fact that he was forced to interlace his act with emphasised rude words for laughs, or the fact that he actually got them.

Fortunately, the final act, Milton Jones, proved as irreverent and uplifting as Dewsbury had been dank and depressing. While Henning Wehn appealed, Jones afforded a further step up the pyramid, as can be expected from a man who lists the Perrier Best Newcomer Award in 1996, Time Out 'Best Comedy Performer' prize in 2002 and nominations for the British Comedy Awards and main Perrier award among his achievements. Again, Jones draws strongly on a distinctive appearance, emerging on stage looking downright disheveled- his unkempt hair almost covering his eyes and sporting a loud check-jacket, but he was immediately charming.

While his mouth is rude and scathing, his eyes are warm and convivial, a delicate balance that keeps the audience close as he pulls them through tangent after tangent. His jokes are quickfire, impeccably-timed and hilarious:

"I was sitting down for tea with my family with a huge chocolate cake on the table, when my parents left to go to the kitchen, my Grandfather leaned over and winked at me, and said 'Go on son' So I got up… and punched Grandma".

A great way to end a worthwhile trip to the Funny Side.


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Greavsie123