Back into the metropolis that is Ipswich (fading by the day, it has to be said) for two consecutive nights of comedy. Both stand-up, but very different approaches, themes and styles. One overtly political and satirical, the other more whimsical, the humour to be found in the mundane….
First up was Marcus Brigstock’s “Brig Society”, a polemic take on Cameron’s Big Society. His very practical demonstration of the causes of the subprime crisis is particularly funny, because it is so palpably true. And leaves a lot of people in the audience out of pocket, at least temporarily..
Bitter is often better when it comes to comedy, and when he gets on a high-horse rant, the show comes alive. Brigstocke’s certainly got it in for Jimmy Carr – as much for his mean-spirited stand-up act as his tax affairs – and his suggestion for funding the renationalisation of the railways is brilliant, born of the intense frustration of all the nonsense every regular train passengers must endure. He knows his own privileged background makes his approach a little ambivalent and probably explains some of the empathy he affords ‘David Cam-moron’ and ‘Gideon Osborne’ (as he insists on calling them throughout the night ). As he sees it, they can’t help failing to empathise with the common man, their upbringing simply means they don’t know how to – he doesn’t push it though, they are still tossers.
The politics and the polemic would mean nothing if the show wasn’t funny, so thankfully it’s good to report that it is largely hilarious. Thought provoking and bloody funny is a powerful combination. Wouldn’t have wanted to be in the audience as a Tory voting Sun reader though!!
The next night saw Alan Davies at the Ipswich Regent. After correctly pointing out what a ‘shithole’ it was (and little does he know it’s been refurbished, clearly a Suffolk catch all for “painted”), he kicked off with casual anecdotes about childhood, fatherhood and parenting. He touches on the impact of his mother’s death when he was six, but he doesn’t go deep. His is a relaxed, blokey type of humour, establishing a rapport with the audience easily and keeping it relatively light. Most of his subjects are familiar but he doesn’t always take a position you might expect – he is particularly vitriolic and amusing about tough love, old fashioned parenting for example. It’s not cutting edge but he’s a naturally funny guy and it was an enjoyable evening. Quite Entertaining!!