Quote: Ben @ July 17 2011, 3:34 PM BST

I haven't been to see any stand up in over a year. Must go again soon.

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I've been hearing a lot of good things about Tuesday 26 July at Bar Kick...

I'm going to see this brilliant standup I've been writing for tonight.

And then I'm going to get them drunk and f**k them blind.

Male or female?

And what's their name then?

I watched the BCGs own Stu Laws doing his double act thingy, Apocolypso, the other night. They was awesome.

Just back from watching American comic Demitri Martin. He was GOOD.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ July 20 2011, 5:03 PM BST

I watched the BCGs own Stu Laws doing his double act thingy, Apocolypso, the other night. They was awesome.

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Where was that?

Off to see Stephen Merchant & Dave Gorman next month. Not seen either before but I'm sure it'll be a good evenings entertainment.

I saw Ed Byrne on his Crowd Pleaser tour last week for the first time, in Truro. He did mostly new material, but some stuff I'd already seen him do on Mock the Week over the last couple of years, which was a bit of a let down in an otherwise excellent two-hour set.

Going to see Jon Richardson in Falmouth next month, which I'm really looking forward to; he is possibly my favourite comedian at the moment.

I'm going all the way to Cardiff in December to see Russell Howard as part of a friend's 21st birthday celebrations.

Living in Cornwall does not really give you much access to seeing comedy live, there's absolutely NO comedy clubs near me, and top name acts in the Hall for Cornwall or other similar venues are few and far between so I really need to travel to get to most gigs.

I need to move. >_<

I saw Ed Byrne a couple of weeks ago in Guildford. He was exceptional. I've never really been that bothered by his stuff really but it was really, really good. He walks that line between populist and clever that just works. It's really what Russell Howard should be but isn't quite.

No warm-up -- just two hours solid of stuff. Thoroughly recommended. The cat stuff was fantastic.

Also saw Stephen Merchant at the end of last month and that was very good indeed. He seemed very accomplished at this stand-up malarkay, so he was obviously pretty good when he did it way back in the past. Also money well spent. Josh Widdicombe supported so it was interesting to see his show post-Edinburgh, having it seen it in warm-up mode. He's not nearly as funny without my and the wife's input, but still very entertaining. Give him a year more and he'll be a top performer, I reckon.

Kitson tomorrow night (in non-stand-up, full-performance mode).

Dan

Saw Milton Jones last week, and as others have said in this thread, it was a bit dissatisfying, and I recognised too much of the material from radio. Also, I like more of a narrative rather than a series of one-liners. But he was a consummate performer, and dealt with early hecklers very effectively.

I saw Daniel Kitson's It's Always Right Now Until It's Later at the National Theatre last night.

Again, another performance piece. Not stand-up per se, but very, very funny all the way along. I'd recommend everyone go see him do one of his performance pieces, if you get the chance.

Most excellent. Maybe even exceptional. My friend thought it was the best show he'd seen ever.

Dan

Looking at getting tickets for Steve Hughes in the New Year.

Anyone seen him, any thoughts?

I saw him supporting Reginald D. Hunter on tour last week. I didn't think I'd like him at first, but by the end I was laughing like a drain. He was very good.

Speaking of which, Reginald D. Hunter is one of the most accomplished stand-ups I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot. Thoroughly recommended. Exceptional.

Recent others:
Ed Byrne's Crowd Pleaser. Just brilliant. Never seen him live before and I'm glad I did. He did a full two hours, no support and was very, very good all the way through. He can toe the line between populist and clever comedy in a way that I was hoping Russell Howard would and failed to do.

Richard Herring's What Is Love, Anyway? in Aldershot a few weeks back. Herring is always good value but there was a self-assuredness and flow that made this the best performance of his I've seen (fourth time live now). He's getting pretty competent at this stand-up lark now.

Dave Gorman's Powerpoint Presentation was extremely funny. There is something about Dave Gorman that makes me want to get annoyed with what he is doing; probably him just refusing to get a proper job. I think there is an arrogance bubbling under that irritates me. That said, this was *very* funny and I laughed lots. Maybe he's a proper comedian now.

Jay Foreman supported Gorman with his comedy songs. You can listen to clips of them on his website. He's no Minchin but they are very funny and the guy is likeable despite his cheekiness in the lyrics.

Kitson's It's Always Right Now, Until It's Later. Another performance piece. Another wonderful, brilliant, sublime, ace, etc etc from Kitson. It's a bit boring praising him time after time, frankly, even though this deserves it. My mate declared it the best comedy performance he'd ever seen in his life, but he can't even grow a moustache properly, so what does he know.

Alan Carr's Spexy Beast at the O2. Carr is a funny bloke, actually. He does get a lot of laughs. It's populist stuff and nothing remotely clever so, in my position as comedy snob, a bit disappointing that he didn't surprise me with something intelligent. But I did laugh quite a bit. Nowhere nearly as the four older ladies pissing themselves laughing in the next block but I obviously didn't hear the same jokes/take the same drugs as them.

EDIT: Just realised I have said some of that already in posts above. Thought I'd leave it in so you can see thoughts a few weeks later...

Dan

I went to see Chris Addison in a little venue just over a week ago. It was his final warm-up show running in new material for the tour and it was a really good night.

As he said himself, he was being his own support act, so we were treated to 45 minutes of improv and audience interaction followed by the hour long show. It was really good to see him adapting his material for the audience and providing a running commentary on breaking news events (it was the night that Berlusconi resigned).

I'd be interested to see how this show has changed by the end of his current run, but as it was it made my face ache with laughter anyway.

This year I've seen.

Danny Bhoy- Great story teller, he goes off on so many tagents that it can take 1/2 hour to tell one story but it's all funny. He also has a good understanding of modern Australian culture.

Tim Minchin- The show he did with the Orchestra. Enjoyed it so much that I am going again in January. I've seen him a few other times, there is always a much older couple who walk out. I guess they've only seen on telly doing something tame like canvas bags.

Russell Kane- This was the show he did about when he was growing up. I really enjoyed it but I don't know that some of the references to certain places in England were were understood by some people in the Audience.

I've also seen Dylan Moran. Like Danny Bhoy he has a seems to have a good understanding of modern Australian culture.

Hoping to see Ross Noble next year but the dates he's playing near me happen to be the only ones in the entire year I don't think I can get to