Neil Hamburger 5th September 2011

Where did you see it? Soho Theatre, Dean Street

I'll be honest I wasn't really familiar with the work of Neil Hamburger but a friend sent around an email inviting me and you know what a social butterfly I am behind these sad, lonely trips to comedy alone...

I'm not sure what I was expecting, I'd followed Hamburger on twitter and found him quite funny but would it translate to the stage?

Yes and no. The whole point of Gregg Turkington's greasy anti-comedian character is that he is a horrible act to watch; bringing up lodged phlegm and an awkward performer but sometimes it felt just too awkward and just too slow, I found myself distracted by how Hamburger held his drink glasses. By the time Hamburger got going, the fantastic Ben and Jerry's joke for example, he slowed down again only to get good when it came to show-stopping (literally) end song. He's good, but not brilliant and I can see why someone on Twitter came on to complain and ask for a refund.  He's okay, he's certainly not worth £10 for an hour's set.

I think my issue with Hamburger stems from the fact that there are comics on the British circuit doing what he does so much better, like David Earl's Brian Gittins. Hamburger's dated reference of Smashmouth and Kiss feel out of place when attacking Britney Spears for being a bit of a skank and Steven Tyler's role on American Idol. I think I would like Hamburger more if he just stuck to really old references to give a better impression of a terrible comic.

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.

Response to the Response

As I said it was all bit TL;DR and a mature person would have left that last blog post at that but I'm petty and frankly I've been fighting with people about comedy since I was 14, I'm not going to stop now.

Assuming you read it all; it seems Jacques isn't all that good at judging brief, nor is he that good at judging audience responses to jokes that come across as playground homophobia but this isn't about me kicking down Barrett. In all honesty I think he is too busy to be getting fighty and angry with someone who isn't using the blog in the way it should be used. Firstly, f*ck him, I will use my blog how I like and when (I can be arsed to) like and secondly responding to any criticism with "Why don't you do it" never looks good. In fact I'm tempted to take him up on it. I couldn't be any worse than him and maybe we could do a role swap?

In all seriousness, perhaps I was too hard on him. I should have mentioned that joke that went slightly better than the others because it was only a bit misogynistic but to be honest I had to dig deep into my brain to remember that, however it did get laughs and I shouldn't take that or the fact other comics were really nice to him, no mention of audience members though but who cares about them when you are performer.

I will end it at this; Jacques knows where the comment box is if he wants a final say but his response was a pathetic as I hoped it would be when I asked him about publishing. He didn't want a discussion and still doesn't so I won't engage in one. He wanted to rant & boohoo about a blog, that has been up less than a month and barely registering on search engines, that had criticised him. I understand that, as I suspected Barrett is a teeny bit insecure and a blog confirming what you already knew (it didn't work and it clearly hurt Barrett that it didn't work) but his defensive alongside poor material will be his downfall.

Perhaps mine too if I keep upsetting comics with this blog.

A response to "Wishy Washy Liberals" A night at Old Rope 25th July 2011

This is exciting, it is very easy to assume as a no mark blogger that anyone reads this. Turns out no mark comics do too. You are in ace company.

I had a comment waiting for me to approve yesterday night and when I checked it contained the email of Jacques Barrett. I had used his act as a lead off for a post about why some offensive comedy is simply bad when it doesn't have to be. I won't publish his email and I do feel he has a right to reply, though why he couldn't have put this in the comment section (without his email) I don't know.

So my email to Jacques first, then his response

Hello Jacques,I hope you don't mind I've decided not to publish your comment as it had your email and I didn't want you getting any spam (I get some weird traffic from Russia and Pakistan and I refuse to believe anyone from there cares about my opinions on comedy)
I also hope I didn't offend with my blog; I posted it because I saw you looking shell-shocked by the bar (perhaps I read your face wrong) and I wanted to analyse why mine (and other audience reaction) wasn't as positive to you as it could have been.
If you would like the chance to have your reply published let me know. I don't want it to be one-sided if you have something you want to say in response.

Hi, I'll keep this brief.  I've listened back to my set, every punchline except for the set up to an ironic rape law premise got a decent response.  That patch I am the first to admit was dodgy, and in the moment I was immediately unhappy with those words, I then went on to recover and finished well.  I wasn't shell-shocked in a negative way, I did a completely new 9 minute set on a stage where some of my idols have also frequented and the intensity of which took a few minutes to process.  I was congratulated by several other comics and was told by the booker that I'll be up again when they return from Edinburgh.   After a weekend of tough gigs I had some new premises I wanted to trial in an environment where there is an understanding among the crowd and your peers that there will be no judgement. I was and still am very happy with my set, I polished all that material and trialed it again last night and tonight and it is now strong.  

This email is no longer about my comedy it's actually your reviewing technique that i'd like to impart some advice upon, it's pointed, constructive and comes from a good place.  Although you said it wasn't a review, like someone starting a sentence by saying I'm not racist but... you then proceeded to review a 60 second period of my set at a new material night. I respect opinion within the subjectively appreciated performing arts but when you publish facts about a performance which err on falsity you are in News of the World territory.  The topic of getting bummed by big scary Aussie blokes is sad and cringe worthy on it's own, but to use it as a starting point to highlight a ridiculous and ironic law about sexual assault in Australian mining settlements contextualises and justifies it well and finished with a good response from the crowd.  You failed to mention where the premise went and instead I believe you heard the set up of a brand new concept about the brave comedy topic of sexual assault and then switched off.  Perhaps you wrote a blog title memo in your own mental notebook and then made inferences about my emotional reaction based purely on face value at the end.   All your readers have relied on your accurate recollection of events to hopefully align with your point of view but you have grossly exaggerated your opinion of the gig and then spread that blanket over the rest of the crowd who according to you all hated me.  
If you are to improve as a reviewer and be respected by readers and comics alike your honesty and focus must never faulter and you must objectively report the response of all others in the crowd.  In this case it would have been better to say that you didn't like it, you thought it was disgusting and here's why.... but the rest of the crowd liked it because they're shit or dumb or too tolerant of subject matter etc.  The most important thing in a review is that the right people see that show or person in the future and the wrong fitted crowd know to steer clear.  The people reading your review have received an incorrect report of my set and may avoid a performer whom they would have actually enjoyed.  That is unfair to all involved.
If you want to publish this response you're more than welcome, I don't mind either way, but if you do it must be in full and not cherry picked. If you continue to pass off your opinions in angry rant form you must remove the 'review' title from your site and replace it with 'blog', or furthermore hit the open mic scene and rant away.  People don't go to comedy for facts, they go for the funny, which was always my intention and motive, to make people laugh.
Piece out,

It is already a bit TL;DR so I will publish my response to the response in my next post.

The Three Englishmen: Optimists (Edinburgh Preview) 18th July 2011

Who are they? The Three Englishmen are Ben Cottam, Nick Hall, Jack Hartnell and Tom Hensby
Where did you see it? Canal Cafe Theatre, Little Venice

I have to admit I have actually seen The Three Englishmen before, I know get those jaws off the floor as it becomes apparent I do go to comedy, honest. I first saw them at the much missed SketchUp night in Shoreditch's Bar Kick. I say much missed because I went to two before they closed it down and never restarted again (I have a similar effect with jobs, work somewhere, it shuts within the year). I say I saw them; I saw two of them. My attempts at seeing The Three Englishmen as a foursome were failures for a while until last summer when I saw their well received debut Edinburgh show.

I'm not going to mince my words here; I'd be amazed if Optimists is as well received as last year's show. It feels very samey, like a difficult second album. Sketches that were successful first time round seem to be changed slightly for this show, but not as funny and they committed the crime that all the sketch acts I've been seeing do; no punchline for sketches that have good ideas or sketches that make no sense. So many sketches start off strongly, like a sketch involving a father telling his son about his university days, then just end with perplexed, nervous laughter and polite clapping from an audience that doesn't get what went so wrong.

The Three Englishmen L-R Jack Hartnell, Nick Hall,
Tom Hensby and Ben Cottam

I will admit that I had seen some of their finest sketches before at new material nights and that perhaps spoiled my enjoyment; I assume most of their Edinburgh audience won't be weird fan girls like me so will approach it with fresh eyes. That isn't to say there aren't good sketches but that momentum of a strong sketch, such as the elderly donkey keeping man whose past time infuriates his neighbours, blind chemist or Lady Gaga at school, is then ruined by a weak filler or sketches don't know when to JUST END.

To be honest much of the Three Englishmen's sketches are saved by the performances, with Cottam standing out this year. Hensby and Hall seem quickest on their feet,  perhaps more aware of their weaker sketches or general preview teething problems so keen to improvise where they can. Which looks like I'm being incredibly cruel to Hartnell; I don't mean to be as he's the backbone of the musical numbers that are spread through the show (They were Musical Comedy Awards 2011 runner up) and whilst I have voiced my displeasure when it comes to musical comedy I can't fault their harmonies and most of their comedy intentions; some fail to hit the mark (why are so many sketch acts doing 'mash ups' of popular songs in a comedy fashion now?) but others like their Jack the Ripper song would only work in a musical fashion.

I'm desperately hoping the show just needs a bit of tweaking, that all will be well when they come back in September but producing similar sketches from previous years won't win them favours with the critics. It hasn't with this one anyway.

Humphrey Ker is Dymock Watson: NAZI SMASHER (Edinburgh Preview) 14th July 2011

Who is he? Humphrey Ker, the tall one in The Penny Dreafuls embarking on his first solo show
Where did you see it? The Pleasance, Islington (again-as I said very cheap tickets...)

As I said this is Ker's first solo show after being in The Penny Dreadfuls forever. I'll be honest, I've never seen the Penny Dreadfuls live and slightly anxious that if all their shows do well. David Reed and Thom Tuck are also doing solo shows, which I will try and see at some point.

"WHO IS DYMOCK WATSON?" I hear you scream, maybe you didn't scream that but I will answer anyway. Dymock Watson is Ker's maternal grandfather, who was quite senior in the Second World War. Whilst doing some digging Ker finds out that his grandfather was part of an elite group and as he isn't able to get hold of his grandfather's files at the National Archives until 2031 this is Ker's fictional account of what his grandfather got up to. Though I should add where I work (Not the National Archives, twitter me if you care) does have some of Watson's files and I haven't had time to look at them yet.

Humphrey Ker as Dymock Watson

This show is pretty exhausting for the audience, at least I found it so. Ker's height had me on edge and I was convinced he was going to bang his head on the low wooden beam (He's 6ft 7) let alone how Ker must feel after the hour. He plays not only Dymock, one of only 7 Romanian speakers in the UK and the only one who hasn't been killed but many other characters such as Scottish inspector, who leads him to his mission, the American love interest Joanie, the Geordie elite trainer and Rex Hammer, who sounded a lot like Matt Berry. I'm conscious of spoilers but I will say there are some great lines about "pointy breasts" and a strangely realistic 'if dogs could talk' impression.

That is Ker's strength. He is very good at accents, the story is easy to follow and this show showcases him as a talented comedy performer (it is demanding show and I hope he is taking a holiday in September) and the show, understandably wasn't ready yet, I'll admit I'm more forgiving of Works in Progress when there is only one of you, for which Ker was incredibly apologetic; lines were forgotten, there were wardrobe malfunctions and he hadn't got hold of sound effects but it is has potential and is a fun hour. I would be surprised if  doesn't get more attention and television work after this, he deserves better than Fast and Loose anyway.

Delete the Banjax: Pigs and Ponies (Edinburgh Preview) 11th July 2011

Who are they? Delete the Banjax are Samuel Champion, Daniel Cook, Gareth Cooper and Caroline May-Jones

Where did you see it? Pleasance, Islington

I am not the most hardcore of comedy attendees. I'm aware this blog sometimes looks like the ramblings of groupy but I've heard about more comedy than I've actually seen. Delete the Banjax were one of those names that I heard but never seen perform. I hadn't really read much about them either. Despite being 'a reviewer' now (Ha!) I don't read reviews unless I've already seen them. I went in open minded and with a cheap ticket.

Actually I lie; the ticket was cheap but my mind went in thinking I'd spend an hour stoney faced and the guitar that appeared in the corner of my eye didn't help my assumption. I'm not a big fan of musical comedy; I associate it with Tim Minchin, who I detest and my inner monologue just screams "FFS just be a popstar if you want to sing at me" I love music, I love comedy but I'm not really happy about them joining forces even if I see something that works. It feels a little student revue.

DtB rely on video a lot, not a bad thing and it is nice filler as opposed to what usually occurs; an awkward monologue whilst the others get changed. I particularly enjoyed 'Daniel Cook; an actor' showreel, which was only spoilt by the pub quiz sketch surrounding it. Unfortunately I didn't really rate Cook as a performer, otherwise and definitely felt like the weakest link; I'm not sure if it was his speaking style but his role just seemed annoying rather than 'LOL' funny. Intentional? I don't know but if so they need to distinguish between annoying but funny and just annoying.

L-R Daniel Cook, Samuel Champion, Caroline May-Jones and Gareth Cook

The others were much stronger. As the lone female I feared May-Jones role was just going to be hysterical female characters but she was a much more rounded performer, the 'Time after Time' and 'baby' sketch could have easily become the hysterical, screechy character that many female sketch acts resort to when they don't have anything funny but all had nice twists and she seemed to get the tone right, and had a lovely singing voice.

Cooper's shining moment was also the baby sketch. He gets the new mother character just right. He also made a very good George Osbourne in the VAT biscuits sketch. I feel he's ended up as the straight man to Cook's funny man and I'm not sure that should be the case. Champion reminded me of Adam Buxton in his sailor hat mode from Adam and Joe. He's meant to be dense and treated terribly by the rest of the Banjax but I much prefered him in his 'non-stupid' roles such as the over enthusiastic American in the 'English Comprehensive/Glee' song.

It is hard to focus on Delete the Banjax as individuals, it is a group that works because of the chemistry. There isn't building resentment or one that clearly hates another one (I have witnessed this at a show from another sketch group before) but ultimately Pigs and Ponies is rather forgettable, I rely on keywords and memories to write my reviews and my scribbled down notes on a tube aren't bringing any memories back. So many of the sketches are recurring so one I've remembered actually appears three times (the new names for things and Time after Time sketch, for example), which means they seem limited but I suspect they do what many have done; have a good idea AND STAY WITH IT FOREVER instead of experimenting and adding a fast paced multi-sketch element.

Their biggest achievement is making comedy songs that don't want to make me tear my ears off. Well done, Delete the Banjax.

Lady Garden 2011 (Edinburgh Preview) 8th July 2011

Who are they? Lady Garden are Hannah Dodd, Beattie Edmondson , Rose Johnson, Eleanor Thom and Camille Ucan.
Where did you see it? The Pleasance, Islington


I have to admit I wasn't as keen to see the preview Lady Garden's fourth Edinburgh show as I had been to see Beta Males. It seems Lady Garden are an acquired taste with opinions ranging from "Brilliant, they're the ones to watch" from media types (I believe they have a pilot or a full series coming soon) to "they're awful and 
there are too many of them" now they've dealt with that last point; there's now five instead of six of them.

Back row L-R; Beattie Edmondson, Rose Johnson, Hannah Dodd
Front row; Eleanor Thom, Camile Ucan

The most interesting opinion of Lady Garden I heard was that "they produce a lot of shit but when they hit the mark it's genius" at the time I thought that was ridiculous; how can you forgive a lot of shit for the rare brilliant sketch?


Upon seeing them I could see the point entirely. A lot of their sketches make no sense or just don't work. 'Handsome and Entertaining', for example (they have the name or setting of each sketch on paper, thanks ladies) just confused the audience. Was it Justin Bieber or a Michael Jackson impersonator being played by Edmondson (yes, she related to that Edmondson and that half of French and Saunders) and did Ucan really need to be on the stage as well. It was a low point that I would usually excuse as a filler sketch whilst the others got changed but they had other filler sketches that were so much better.


When they hit the mark, such as their Lady in Red slow dance sketch or the horse dating agency, it was fantastic and as performers they are probably one of the best, most solid sketch groups. Any weakness one performer seemed to have was made up by other skills. Johnson's performances where she spoke failed to hit the mark sometimes but she does have one of the best 'shocked' faces I have seen; she should definitely do a mime show at some point. Dodd and Ucan's (whose face reminded me of Kourtney Kardashian and distracted me) strengths also seemed to rely on their faces.. This isn't the criticism it appears to be; so much comedy relies on silly facial expressions and it is a useful skill.


Thom, if I'm forced to pick a favourite, is my choice. She didn't seem to be in much of the sketch show, as it appeared dominated by the other four but when she appeared you were guarantee a proper laugh out loud sketch. Edmondson seems like she makes a better straight (wo)man than an outright comedy performer, not that she was rubbish, far from it, but she was outshone by her co-stars in the sketches and perhaps my expectations of her were too high considering her pedigree. 


Too many of the sketches only produced a smile and if this was a new sketch group I'd be more forgiving but after three Edinburgh shows (and a regular comedy night at the Wilmington Arms)  the ladies of Lady Garden should really be better at weeding out (apparently my last review didn't contain enough puns) the weaker sketches.  

The Beta Males- The Train Job (Edinburgh Preview) 5th July 2011

FINALLY I present to you a review. I took my time, sorry.
Who are they? The Beta Males are; John Henry Falle, Jon Gracey, Guy Kelly and Richard Soames
Where did you see it? The Miller, in London Bridge


The Beta Males (Formerly The Beta Males Picnic) will be returning to Edinburgh in 2011 with The Train Job after the success of their 2010 show The Bunker. I didn't see The Bunker, unfortunately so I cannot compare this show to that but The Train Job felt equally as claustrophobic as a bunker as the show is set, as the title would suggest, on a train going from London (I think...) to Edinburgh.

L-R Guy Kelly, Richard Soames, John-Henry Falle and Jon Gracey

I was keen to see this show as I had heard and seen good things from the Beta Males, with their matching ties and waistcoat (a snazzy purple and grey combination at the Miller, fashion fans) their style reminds me very much of what it would have been like to see The League of Gentlemen's early shows. TLoG wore black tie in their live shows and continued it for the first half of their national tour. The train is, I suppose, their Royston Vasey (or Spent, "it was better on the radio" fans) with the sketches taking place during this journey across the train carriages.

I don't want to spoil it too much so I will keep it basic. We (the audience) are passengers on the Olympus with its brash American CEO reassuring this that the train cannot possibly sink, we then join an array of characters including the tea boy (or is it tea lady?), the safety inspector, trainspotters, a gorilla and Stephen Byers MP, amongst others.

This is a preview and that was obvious; lines were forgotten and giggles were had but personally I quite like this in a show because you can pick up any tensions between the performers and it is obvious they take any mistakes in their stride and any teasing from their fellow Beta Male with the jest that is intended. My only concern is that it might not stand out against other sketch shows that don't have such a rigid connection that the Beta Males have with the train. The train and live setting means that it is hard to adjust when a sketch takes part outside of the train, which happens rarely in this show.

I hate reviews that concentrate on particular performers so I won't do that. All four put in strong, memorable performances during the hour whether that be Falle's Brief Encounter-esque female character or his gorilla, Gracey's Stephen Byers, Kelly's orgasmic safety inspector and Soames' tea boy (or is it lady?)

If in Edinburgh or in London before and after Edinburgh do catch this show; it is a lot of fun.

BBC2 Summer and Autumn Schedule

I'm aware this was released end of June, something you will realise about this blog is its lack of FINGER ON THE PULSE action. What can I say, I commute a lot nowadays and don't read as much comedy news as I should.
I don't know if there are highlights as such; I will admit I don't watch as much television comedy as I should. The Brain Tree (Braintree? I don't know what my name is anymore) of old would watch anything but something happened and disillusionment set in. I hope this blog will encourage that again but who knows.

Anyway as we aren't using highlights 'things that stuck out for me' are the new Rab C Nesbitt. I struggled with the last series, it was a return after many years but there were so many cast changes and deaths over the years that it didn't feel like Rab C Nesbitt. In particular Gash, Rab and Mary's son became a new actor, not just any actor but an actor so young looking he was probably young enough to be the original Gash's son.

Ricky Gervais is BACK, BACK, BACK with  Life's Too Short where he takes the mickey out of the disableds in an ironic way but he's not doing it for himself, he's doing it to reveal the real bigots. Like that Alf Garnett or something. The most interesting thing about Life's Too Short is how samey it seems to be to Gervais and Merchant's other work. I know "If ain't broke, don't fix it' is reasonable motto to live by but it is also incredibly dull. Is anyone excited about this, let me know if you are.

Nothing about the upcoming schedule has got rid of that disinterest I feel about television comedy. I will give this a glance, but only to end up slagging it off on here.

Welcome! (I need a better title)

Welcome to Brain Tree's Comedy Reviews, snappier, sexier titles haven't been considered but I will happily steal any suggestions you may have.

I thought I would produce a rather dull opening post to explain why and how I'm doing this. I'm often put off seeing certain shows because I have nobody to drag along with me and frankly this blog is just an excuse to go to these things by myself without feeling too odd. I will still look odd but don't judge the small woman staring into her G&T/lager/tap water at comedy gig across London, say hi. I won't bite.

I say "across London" I mean the cheapest, most convenient comedy gigs as well as reviews I hope to use this as a bit of a soapbox so  I can talk about various comedy news when I get round to hearing about it. Gig recommendations and comments, however cruel and unnecessary, will be appreciated. I also apologise for the London-centric nature of the blog. I live here, the comedy is here it is totally justified.

Fingers crossed I will have a gig review ready for posting tomorrow evening but this is early days and I'm chronically lazy so please stick with it.

BT
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