I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of stand-up comedians I have paid to watch.
Technically the late Dave Allen wasn’t even a stand-up because he was famous for sitting on a stool with a glass of (Irish) whiskey in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
Nevertheless he was a comedian.
Significantly, and try as I might, I don’t remember any of the others.
Currently there are even fewer I would take the trouble to pay to watch on a cold dark night yet in the past few weeks I’ve driven a total of four hours to see Frank Skinner and Geoff Norcott in Northampton and Milton Keynes respectively.
I’ve always liked Skinner who has enjoyed a long and successful career since he won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival in, I think, 1992.
Quick-witted, warm and congenial, he’s just the sort of guest I would invite to one of those fantasy dinner parties.
I also admire his recovery from alcoholism - a subject on which he has never been maudlin or self-pitying - and his very open attachment to his faith (Catholicism) which is unusual for a modern ‘celebrity’.
Skinner’s current tour began before the pandemic and the Northampton gig had been postponed twice before it finally took place last month.
I was keen to go because I think it’s important to support ‘local’ events post lockdown (especially if you already have a ticket!) but I’m sorry to say it was a disappointment.
Skinner still has oodles of charm but everything about the show felt lazy, his routine a smorgasbord of anecdotes and observations that bore almost no relevance to one another.
In other words, it didn’t ‘flow’.
Reading the pre-pandemic reviews it would appear that the routine hadn’t changed a bit. Aside from one or two jokey comments, it was as if Covid had never happened.
It was clear too that - with the arguable exception of a long-winded and barely believable knob joke - Skinner was keen not ‘offend’ anyone.
There was one moment when he began a sentence that appeared to be going in a potentially ‘dangerous’ direction before he pointedly stopped - and that was the joke (which, to be fair, got a good laugh).
Norcott (who I saw in Milton Keynes on Wednesday night) also erred on the side of caution but he wasn’t scared to have a pop at one or two sacred institutions - the NHS, for example.
His approach - which worked rather well - was to gently gauge the likely reaction of his audience and then proceed in a manner that was unlikely to turn anyone against him and still get laughs.
The title of the show was ‘I Blame The Parents’ but it was hard to discern much material on that subject which suggested that the show is in a state of constant evolution with topical jokes and observations being added all the time.
I may be wrong but either way Norcott’s routine worked in a way that Frank Skinner’s didn’t. It was much funnier too which is something I hadn’t expected when I bought the tickets.
Credit too to Norcott for fully embracing and even acting as the warm up for his own support act.
He did this by coming on stage at the very start of the show and doing a short routine before introducing his support who was on stage for around 20 minutes.
The support act then welcomed Norcott back on stage and the show continued without a break until a 20-minute interval later in the evening.
In contrast Skinner’s support act came on with no warm up and in a rather muted atmosphere.
In fact a discernible sense of disappointment rippled around the auditorium because few people seemed to be expecting a support act at all.
It certainly wasn’t mentioned on the ticket which was a mistake, I think.
Anyway I think I’ve done my bit for the UK comedy circuit for now.
The only comedian who is currently on my bucket list to see live is Peter Kay (a true genius, in my opinion) and there is currently no sign of him returning to the stage following the cancellation of his 2017 tour.
If however you get a chance to see Geoff Norcott I would thoroughly recommend it.
His spring 2022 tour starts in February. Dates here.
Disclaimer: Geoff Norcott was the after dinner act at Forest’s 40th anniversary dinner in 2019.
This has in no way influenced my review of his performance!
I am delighted however that we booked him when we did because I suspect that, two years on, we would no longer be able to afford him!