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Standup Comedy


iamthedoctor

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Bumping this one to note the fact that I just watched Doug Stanhope's No Refunds show tonight and it really is one of the very best stand-up performances I have ever seen. Simply fantastic.

Okay, Deadbeat Hero is even better. This guy is pretty fucking good.
My favourite set of his is Something To Take the Edge Off. It's a CD only release, but the material is absolutely spot on. He's being backed by Henry Phillips improvising guitar behind him, which might sound like a crap idea, but I think it really focuses him and gives a weirdly brilliant rhythm.
. If you listen to his bootlegs, he's so meandering and conversational (and shamblingly great I might add) that it's crazy he manages to sort his stuff out as well as he does on his recordings.Some ace bootlegs:London 2009ishWiseacres 2006indy 2008 Edited by gmoney
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Not sure if this would be too specialist/geeky but from the Stewart Lee thread it seems some of you might be interested. A comedian called Stuart Goldsmith (who's great btw) has started this The Comedians Comedian Podcast It's basically a shoot interview for stand-up's. Looking at how they started, how they approach writing, performing, the highs & lows of being a comedian etc. Each interview is with an established headline act & thus far all the artists featured have been very different stylistically. So far he's done Rob Deering, Dan Evans, Dan Antopolski & Ben Norris. The next one is with Paul Sinha & there's one with Sarah Millican coming up too.

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I just watched Kevin Bridges - The Story So Far, and it was alright. He's really likeable and I think he's great on HIGNFY and everything else, but this wasn't quite as good as I was hoping for. It was probably a bit safe for me after all the Carlin and Stanhope, but I do like Bridges and hopefully he'll do funnier shows than this in the future.

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I've always thought that with people like Bridges, Alan Carr, John Bishop & Mickey Flanagan their stuff doesn't really translate well to TV/DVD. Half of it is the charm & warm atmosphere they create in the room which makes the laughter more infectious. Alan Carr's stuff on TV is OK but every time I've seen him live he's been incredible.

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I think it could be that I get used to a comedian on TV and am less comfortable with them when they go longer. I haven't seen any of the others in stand up shows, though, so I can't say that across the board. I don't like Alan Carr or Mickey Flanagan, having said that, but I would try John Bishop.

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That's an interesting one. I guess in some ways it's good that those kinds of shows are on TV these days, but I can see why they would have a downside as well. Mind you, maybe on the flipside it will challenge comedians a bit more to try and keep their attention.

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Yeah it's definitely a double edged sword. Some acts are getting a lot of publicity & for promoters like myself being able to put 'As seen on...' on posters for each show helps to draw in the punters no end. I do feel for some of the acts though as not everyone is suited to that style, even some of the guys who go on 'Comedy Roadshow', do a blinding full length set for the audience in the theatre but are the victim of the edit when the audience come to see the same bloke live & their stuff is maybe a bit more cerebral than expected.

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I wonder if that has happened with Andrew Lawrence.

 

We saw him in a proper intimate venue in Redhill about 4 or 5 years ago supporting the sadly disbanded Wayward Council. There were only about 15 or 20 people in and we'd never heard of him before. He was absolutely amazing - really dark material and he did a couple of brilliant songs as well. One of the best live performances I've seen in person.

 

When I've seen him doing these TV stand up shows, I think he's been shit. His material is completely different, really cookie-cutter stand-up stuff, but I do wonder if he's been a victim of that editing process.

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Is Andrew Lawrence the guy doing the shows for Radio 4 at the moment? They're not very good, but he sounds like he'd be excellent. Occasionally when falling asleep at night with the Radio on I think I've caught him doing these incredible breathless diatribes.

Edited by Loki
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I saw him at the Fringe this year & he was great, I've seen him a couple of years ago elsewhere at a gig he was headlining & he really struggled. For a while people were touting him as being on a cusp of 'breaking through' but for whatever reason it never happened. It baffles me that some TV producers would class someone like Andrew Lawrence (or other actsof that ilk) as being too odd for mainsteam TV when the British public have demonstrated a huge appetite for surreal, alternative humour from The Goon Show & Python right up to The Mighty Boosh.

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