A Rush of Laughter

Comedy Club
The Lantern Theatre
Sunday 6th May 2012

Reviewed by Jennifer Keegan

My second trip to The Lantern’s Rush of Laughter comedy show was highly anticipated, our compere, again, was Adam Rushton, whose devotion to warming up the crowd is tireless. His interaction and encouragement has to be amplified due to the slightly reserved audience, however he is easily up to the challenge of a cold crowd. With warm banter towards a teacher who claims he never went to school and a doctor who said his name was “Deffo”; Rushton builds up such a rapport with the audience that he easily whips up a suitable atmosphere and applause in time for our first comedian.

Lewis Childsworth is first onto the stage, he starts off quickly trying to gauge where the tolerance line is for this particular audience, he makes fun of the whole crowd and the theatre by asking us how we can heckle him when we are sat on school chairs, I couldn't help but laugh at his obvious point. He goes on to make fun of himself through other people’s perceptions of him, he was in his element as he explained that as a tall black guy people expect him to be able to dance. The idea that all black people have rhythm is a source of amusement for him, as he says he isn't cool enough and that his dancing is more like Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-1996). He goes on to make jokes about the difference between men and women, the cultures of the chav, and includes a joke about playing rock, paper, scissors, gun! He seemed at ease on the stage, very natural and most certainly funny. He is definitely a name to look out for in future!

Next on was Lost Voice Guy, hailed as the next big thing on the comedy circuit, he has cerebral palsy and therefore speaks via a computer. Lost Voice Guy’s set was funny, his gag about forming a Steps tribute band called Ramps raised a hearty laugh as did his quip about him singing No Doubt’s hit Don’t Speak. Unfortunately, I thought it lacked audience interaction; credit where it’s due I admire his strength and determination, but in my opinion, his set came across as far too rehearsed and seemed to lack a natural flow.

Our headliner, Tony Majess, came onto the stage in an unassuming way, joking about being from Manchester, looking like Gollum and how drinking Yakult every morning made him posh. Some of his jokes were dated to the late 80s/early 90s, which meant some of his references were lost on a few younger members of the audience, but he has the perfect temperament for stand up, it didn’t feel like a predetermined set, rather he was rambling through his thoughts and simply sharing them with us. His jokes about telling his mum he was gay even when he wasn’t just to ensure she wouldn’t speak to him for 10 years made everyone laugh and the gag about his Dad taking him to the tip as a child qualifying as a day out really made my sides hurt with laughing so hard. He has a natural way of telling the audience his stories and memories, like taking a walk down memory lane with a funny cousin. He wasn’t a big personality, but his jokes hit home and kept us laughing.

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