"Funny" is subjective
In an effort to stop myself worrying about my little sister, and to cheer up Lenny, I went to the Free Beer Show on Monday night.
The Free Beer Show is a comedy night, performed in an underground bar in Oxford called, for obvious reasons, The Cellar. THe FBS has a reputation for attracting big up-and-coming names, and it also caters to comics wanting to try out Edinburgh material etc.
On Monday, therefore, we saw:
Rob Broderick - The regular MC and a very funny Irish man
Ben Van Der Velde - aka Mr furryfourfooter , and the only stand-up comedian I can genuinely call a friend (even if I am also "friends" with Mark Watson on Facebook ;) )
Russell Howard - The reason why Ben was supporting - Mr Howard came to try out some material for his summer tour, and was indeed a little in need of polish but nevertheless funny.
John Gondillo - a returning stand-up star who entertained himself in his "time off" by directing, amongst other shows, Eddie Izzard's tours.
The latter comedian was well, frankly not very funny. There were perhaps two bits of his set that I found amusing, and they were mainly because he was evoking the shouty Spaniards who live upstairs from us (and oh my goodness how shouty they've been this week - it's not a stereotype, it's true).*
Why didn't I like him?
1. He told a long rambling boring anecdote about women's long boring stories not being funny.
This may well be true, but by telling a boring story, no matter to what end (his theory of the economics of sex, and the "tax" of time and consideration one pays on it), you just make your act boring.
2. Swearing
It is entirely possibly to be funny without swearing. But even without being a prude about it, and allowing for a light sprinling of interjections, there's still no need to make every other word a swear word. Particularly if that word begins with a "C" and is repeated about 50 times in 5 minutes. And speaking of the "C" word...
3. An act entirely obsessed with sex
Yes, sexual intercourse is often a very funny situation, and there are many laughs to be had from such stories. But there are other amusing things in the world (per... all the other comedians on Monday) and you needn't talk about it for 45 minutes.
He may just have been a little rusty; he certainly seemed nervous, but I did not see What All the Fuss is About. No indeedy. But then perhaps my sense of humour is not open-minded enough. Lenny didn't really like him very much either, although he objected a little less to the swearing than I did.
The rest of the acts were marvellous, so it wasn't a wasted evening by any means. And to be honest given we got a free drink, as the name suggests, included in the ticket price, even had it been just Mr Potty-mouth, we probably wouldn't have minded too much, though I won't go to see him again. If, however, you ever get the opportunity to see Russell Howard rehearsing new material, then absolutely DO IT - the roughness of the act; running out of steam, not having a punchline, even the fact he had ideas written on a piece of paper just adds to the comedy value and he is a very clever, very funny man.
Also obviously go and see Ben (that's a little easier, given he regularly MCs at the Canal Club in Little Venice), but that goes without saying, as I've mentioned his funniness before!
*NB He wasn't being racist, just telling a story about his Dad, who happens to be Spanish (his real name being Alberto Jon).
The Free Beer Show is a comedy night, performed in an underground bar in Oxford called, for obvious reasons, The Cellar. THe FBS has a reputation for attracting big up-and-coming names, and it also caters to comics wanting to try out Edinburgh material etc.
On Monday, therefore, we saw:
Rob Broderick - The regular MC and a very funny Irish man
Ben Van Der Velde - aka Mr furryfourfooter , and the only stand-up comedian I can genuinely call a friend (even if I am also "friends" with Mark Watson on Facebook ;) )
Russell Howard - The reason why Ben was supporting - Mr Howard came to try out some material for his summer tour, and was indeed a little in need of polish but nevertheless funny.
John Gondillo - a returning stand-up star who entertained himself in his "time off" by directing, amongst other shows, Eddie Izzard's tours.
The latter comedian was well, frankly not very funny. There were perhaps two bits of his set that I found amusing, and they were mainly because he was evoking the shouty Spaniards who live upstairs from us (and oh my goodness how shouty they've been this week - it's not a stereotype, it's true).*
Why didn't I like him?
1. He told a long rambling boring anecdote about women's long boring stories not being funny.
This may well be true, but by telling a boring story, no matter to what end (his theory of the economics of sex, and the "tax" of time and consideration one pays on it), you just make your act boring.
2. Swearing
It is entirely possibly to be funny without swearing. But even without being a prude about it, and allowing for a light sprinling of interjections, there's still no need to make every other word a swear word. Particularly if that word begins with a "C" and is repeated about 50 times in 5 minutes. And speaking of the "C" word...
3. An act entirely obsessed with sex
Yes, sexual intercourse is often a very funny situation, and there are many laughs to be had from such stories. But there are other amusing things in the world (per... all the other comedians on Monday) and you needn't talk about it for 45 minutes.
He may just have been a little rusty; he certainly seemed nervous, but I did not see What All the Fuss is About. No indeedy. But then perhaps my sense of humour is not open-minded enough. Lenny didn't really like him very much either, although he objected a little less to the swearing than I did.
The rest of the acts were marvellous, so it wasn't a wasted evening by any means. And to be honest given we got a free drink, as the name suggests, included in the ticket price, even had it been just Mr Potty-mouth, we probably wouldn't have minded too much, though I won't go to see him again. If, however, you ever get the opportunity to see Russell Howard rehearsing new material, then absolutely DO IT - the roughness of the act; running out of steam, not having a punchline, even the fact he had ideas written on a piece of paper just adds to the comedy value and he is a very clever, very funny man.
Also obviously go and see Ben (that's a little easier, given he regularly MCs at the Canal Club in Little Venice), but that goes without saying, as I've mentioned his funniness before!
*NB He wasn't being racist, just telling a story about his Dad, who happens to be Spanish (his real name being Alberto Jon).