Yey the board is back!

Went to see Lee Mack last friday at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham. Now I haven't been to 'loads' of theatres in the uk, but the Aexandra is by FAR the worst experience for comfort, looks and design (even Lee picked on the theatre himself).

My wife is very petite and I'm not a big bloke but we were both disgusted with legroom, well there actually isn't any. Ryanair seats are cramped right? Well they're like a leather sofa compared to these....I don't usually complain about things like this and if you knew me you would know it's not in my character to do so but this was appalling.

Anyways rant over, onto the show.

The 'warm up' act

A guy called Steven (didn't catch surname, will Google later).

This guy was a perfect warm up and although I can't really see him being a big hit his one liners were delivered well and got some good laughs, very upper class persona which worked well. "If you're wondering where my accent's from, Birmingham, you may not of heard of it....it's called educated" Enjoyed him and will keep an eye out for him but not gonna break any ground.

Lee Mack

I'd never seen this guy live before and got into his hit series Not Going Out a few years ago completely by accident and he seemed to have a big 'likeability' factor. I'm not going to deliver any of his lines as I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone going.
I bought the Lee Mack live DVD about 2 years ago and it's one of if not the funniest DVDs I own to this day. So I go into this gig kind of knowing what to expect but not knowing how much new material he had and how good it was...after all many comedians have a hit and then disapear as quickly as they appeared and I really didn't want this to happen to him.

I wasn't disappointed.

Lee genuinely has all new material, equal if not better than his last tour and delivered it in an exceptional way. The way he delivers one liners is second to none and the slow smooth talking gets the tension of the crowd when delivering a story, you could hear a pin drop until he delivers the punchline and the place erupted with laughter. I've had to drive to Halifax this morning and couldn't stop laughing to myself thinking about the show.

All in all I would say that Lee Mack can be (and I believe will be) one of the best stand up comedians of all time, and you MUST keep an eye out for extra dates adding to his sold out tour.

He also confirmed in his sort of Q & A at the end of the show that Not Going Out WILL be back for at least another series so great news at the end of what was an incredible show!

Well done Lee Mack!

Ratings:

The show - 10/10
The theatre - 0/10

Warm up man sounds like Simon Evans.
Posh man looks like a Chinese Rigsby.

Yes, that's the guy. He was quite good!

Where I got Steven from I don't know.

I'm off to see him in Dorking tonight. Got tickets about four years ago

I expect him to be brilliant. I saw him back at uni around '97 and it's still one of the funniest shows I've been to. That said, it's a bit more than £3 to see him now...

Dan

Seeing him in May, I think.

I saw him last Saturday at Warwick Arts Centre. I have to say I slightly favour his previous live tour but his new one is still top-notch comedy and I had a fantastic night. His hilarious improvisation when interacting with the audience makes the Q&A session the best part of the night. There was a rather amusing part when a woman in very noisy high heels seem to take forever to leave for the toilet causing Lee to start a side-splitting rant. His opening joke was yet another example of comical audience participation. He owns the stage and gives a high energy performance. I recommend to any fans of Not Going Out to go and see him whilst there are still a few tickets left.

The warm up guy was not bad but I found his jokes were a mixed bag. A few chuckles here and there but not enough belly laughs. He kept rooted to the same spot as well which didn't show for a very enthusiastic stage presence (compared to Lee who was darting about the stage all night). Having said that he was very funny handling a heckler who was shouting that he couldn't hear him at the back.

This was really good on Friday. Great banter with the audience and thoroughly enjoyable throughout. Recommended.

Simon Evans did the warm-up. He writes for Not Going Out and has been on the circuit for *ages*. Saw him at Uni back in '96 (ish) and then again at Jongleurs around five years ago. He's developed some of the jokes but there's a lot of similar material in there. Still very funny though. Oh, and he's never moved around much. At the Jongleurs gig someone kept taking photos and he said "I think that's enough of the photos now; you've got all three of my poses".

Dan

Quote: luke not going out two pints @ February 19 2010, 2:07 PM GMT

Yey the board is back!

Went to see Lee Mack last friday at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham. Now I haven't been to 'loads' of theatres in the uk, but the Aexandra is by FAR the worst experience for comfort, looks and design (even Lee picked on the theatre himself).

My wife is very petite and I'm not a big bloke but we were both disgusted with legroom, well there actually isn't any. Ryanair seats are cramped right? Well they're like a leather sofa compared to these....I don't usually complain about things like this and if you knew me you would know it's not in my character to do so but this was appalling.

Anyways rant over, onto the show.

The 'warm up' act

A guy called Steven (didn't catch surname, will Google later).

This guy was a perfect warm up and although I can't really see him being a big hit his one liners were delivered well and got some good laughs, very upper class persona which worked well. "If you're wondering where my accent's from, Birmingham, you may not of heard of it....it's called educated" Enjoyed him and will keep an eye out for him but not gonna break any ground.

Lee Mack

I'd never seen this guy live before and got into his hit series Not Going Out a few years ago completely by accident and he seemed to have a big 'likeability' factor. I'm not going to deliver any of his lines as I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone going.
I bought the Lee Mack live DVD about 2 years ago and it's one of if not the funniest DVDs I own to this day. So I go into this gig kind of knowing what to expect but not knowing how much new material he had and how good it was...after all many comedians have a hit and then disapear as quickly as they appeared and I really didn't want this to happen to him.

I wasn't disappointed.

Lee genuinely has all new material, equal if not better than his last tour and delivered it in an exceptional way. The way he delivers one liners is second to none and the slow smooth talking gets the tension of the crowd when delivering a story, you could hear a pin drop until he delivers the punchline and the place erupted with laughter. I've had to drive to Halifax this morning and couldn't stop laughing to myself thinking about the show.

All in all I would say that Lee Mack can be (and I believe will be) one of the best stand up comedians of all time, and you MUST keep an eye out for extra dates adding to his sold out tour.

He also confirmed in his sort of Q & A at the end of the show that Not Going Out WILL be back for at least another series so great news at the end of what was an incredible show!

Well done Lee Mack!

Ratings:

The show - 10/10
The theatre - 0/10

View original

I saw him at the weekend and he was smoking. The warm up was Steve Evans and for a support act he was a great contrast.

I can't really add anything to the above other than to say that it was actually funnier. A stand-up masterclass.

Quote: Baumski @ March 18 2010, 11:55 AM GMT

I saw him at the weekend and he was smoking.

View original

Is that allowed in doors now?

Quote: Baumski @ March 18 2010, 11:55 AM GMT

I saw him at the weekend and he was smoking. The warm up was Steve Evans and for a support act he was a great contrast.

I can't really add anything to the above other than to say that it was actually funnier. A stand-up masterclass.

View original

Simon Evans surely?

Saw Lee last night in Blackburn and he was absolutley brilliant! He ripped the place up! Audience participation a highlight and all the new material didn't disappoint. By the end he said it was the 'oddest' gig he had ever done- so we all felt pretty smug with ourselves!! Like others have said before- a complete masterclass.

Quote: Tony Cowards @ March 19 2010, 8:38 AM GMT

Simon Evans surely?

View original

Ooops! Mind you, I know a Steve Evens but I guess that really doesn't count.

Lee was incredible
So unbelievably witty when it came to dealing with hecklers and uncooperating audience members: just amazing
during our gig he recieved the weirdest heckles he'd had in 16 years when one guy shouted out 'Nice Boots' and another shouted 'Matalan!' at a completely random point during his act. This caused him to delve into around 7 minutes of material ENTIRELY off the cuff, and it was all just incredible

without a doubt the best stand-up comedian I've ever seen and ever will see!
Just brilliant and might I say rather handsome too

My only disappointment was that he didn't sell any merchandise other than his tour and Not Going Out DVDs Although my boyfriend said that this showed he wasn't willing to rip off his fans, I would've liked a Lee Mack t-shirt

Quote: Mrs Mack @ March 29 2010, 8:14 PM GMT

during our gig he recieved the weirdest heckles he'd had in 16 years when one guy shouted out 'Nice Boots' and another shouted 'Matalan!' at a completely random point during his act. This caused him to delve into around 7 minutes of material ENTIRELY off the cuff, and it was all just incredible

View original

How do you know that wasn't planned - or related to an old routine?

No offence to Lee Mack, who is an excellent act and very capable of doing hilarious improvisation, but is it not more likely that someone was shouting "Matalan" as a request for him to do his "Matalan material"?

A bit like a Rolling Stones audience shouting out "Brown Sugar".

Even Ross Noble and Eddie Izzard, renowned riffers, have planned "ad-libs" and make it look off-the-cuff by using them at the appropriate moments, sorry to spoil the illusion for anyone.