Karaoke Circus 26th July 2011

Who are they? Karaoke Circus is lots of people; Martin White, Danielle Ward, Jeremy Limb, David Reed, Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra plus a variety of comedians and audience members

Where did you see it? 100 Club, Oxford Street.

I thought I best do a review as if I do anything else it is FRAUD or summat. It is hard to review something like Karaoke Circus, even explaining it is a bit of an effort
"er...so it is comedians doing karaoke?"
"well, yes but there is an orchestra and open mike spots too"
"..."

Yes, it doesn't sound that exciting but good things have been said about since it began many moons ago and until Tuesday I never bothered going but when lots of people are saying how great it is and wasn't it amazing when somebody sang a song you feel a little left out and drag your sorry, tired arse to it.

Not that it initially feels that inclusive whe you are there. It feels like when you turn up drunk to party that your mate is going to and everyone knows everyone but you aren't drunk enough to make the effort to join in. If that isn't most tragic analogy you will hear today then I don't want to hear what you hear. The nature of it means that if you don't sign up/don'tget selected for an open mike spot/are not a famous comedian then it feels a bit awkward, especially for a first timer such as myself.

What is karaoke etiquette? Can I sing along to that song I know when that person is already doing a great job, is that rude? It is like singing along at a musical? It turns out you can, I think many up on the stage want that support or at least backing singers during the songs that have backing singers.

Crucially, as a friend pointed out to me, for Karaoke Circus to work you need a song that everyone knows; when it comes to open mike spots this isn't a problem as the MFMO choose songs they want to play and that will get a good reaction. The comics don't always choose songs we know and love, Josie Long and Chris Addison chose songs I had never heard of so there is no interaction, no comedy just watching some singing. Tim Vine did choose this though

and the open mike spots did include some classics from my childhood; including Everybody (Backstreet's Back) in the form of a blind 'foursome' (they'd run out of duets so couldn't choose a blind date) and Baby One More Time, which made any "What is this song?" concerns a brief blip in the Karaoke Circus night.

Though the venue didn't have enough seats [old, old woman] it was still a great night and I suspect I will come crawling back in October when the next one in London appears.