Just The Tonic Extreme – The Bloomsbury Theatre
April 30, 2008 – 9:39 am | by Allan McKay
What a great idea – put together a bill of 5 very funny and varied stand-ups (not forgetting the compere Dan Atkinson) and put them on in a theatre setting where the punters have comfortable seats with loads of legroom and watch the whole thing take off.
The theatre setting has the advantage of being less of a bearpit than most comedy clubs and seems to attract a wider range of ages, avoiding the competitive audience syndrome found in some of the clubs. Be warned though, plan your toilet trips carefully if you don’t want to miss anything – the queues are long and the breaks are short. It was very easy to get served at the bar (making the toilet planning even more important).
Dan Atkinson does what you expect from a good compere, gently easing the audience into the evening with his slightly bloke-ish humour and generally keeping things ticking over through the evening. Milton Jones starts off the evening with his surreal view of life and laid-back delivery featuring some great one-liners and a very left-field take on life in general.
Next up is Will Smith, starting with the obligatory identity confusion gags (some American entertainer apparently) and developing his routine of life in noughties Britain viewed through the eyes of a slightly puzzled, nice middle-class bloke. Give him 20 years though, and he’ll probably turn into Victor Meldrew.
The second set opens with Wil Hodgson, ex-skinhead from Chippenham now with a pink Mohican and vaguely intimidating delivery. The material, based heavily on autobiographical detail is generally very good (particularly concerning his time as a wrestler) although slightly more patchy than the other comics on this particular bill. It’s a minor criticism because, in less stellar company, this routine would really shine.
The standout act of the evening, partly because of the change in approach and style (using a Mac to emulate hospital radio technology, which is a bit of overkill really) is The Ivan Brackenbury Hospital Radio Roadshow. This is the creation of Tom Binns and is based on characters he encountered during his time on local radio in Nottingham. The comedy focuses on the technical and social ineptitude of a hospital radio presenter and the bulk of the jokes come from totally inappropriate choices of songs as dedications for patients, which I won’t spoil by giving any of them away. If you get a chance to see this act, then make the most of it.
Last up was Ed Byrne, who was very good at the kind of thing that Ed Byrne does – being the all-round funny bloke that you want to have a beer with (one of the props is a bottle of San Miguel which lasts throughout the set). Ed makes it look very easy to be funny, which is brilliant in itself, because it isn’t easy and his material is very good indeed (particularly the material about his upcoming nuptials, which struck a chord with a lot of the audience).
Overall, a great venue, a great and varied set of comics combining to create a great night out.
