Posts Tagged ‘comedy’

Last week I was lucky enough to have tickets to a recording of the Radio 4 comedy programme I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue taking place at Leeds Town Hall.

It was well attended, mostly by your classic demographic of Radio 4 listeners, making me feel very young indeed. What really struck me though was the access to the range of good comedians you got – all at once. The panel consisted of long time ISIHAC guests Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Barry Cryer along with Phil Jupitus and Jack Dee – not a bad line-up for the relatively cheap ticket price!

Of course the two highlights of the evening were seeing the lovely Samantha in person whose descriptions really don’t do her justice, and finally learning how Mornington Crescent actually works – it’s all so obvious when you see it!

On Thursday we headed over to see Stewart Lee in Harrogate.

The show was opened by Simon Munnery who I have heard twice before – he opened for Stewart Lee last time I went to see him and spoke at the Enquiry conference as well. He was good as ever but doing the almost exact same set as twice before I kind of new which jokes were coming.

Stewart’s set was good, there were some classic moments, but he was trying out new material and so it really didn’t build like his previous show did and while there were some very funny parts, I really felt it didn’t match up to the standard set in York.

It did seem quite a networking event though – I ran into Mike from work who had managed to get a ticket at the last minute, David who I used to work with and Professor Ian Cram who is coming to speak to Atheist Society on Tuesday.

I went to see the new Chris Morris film, Four Lions, on Tuesday. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a “comedy” sort of about Islamic terrorists trying to blow themselves up in London. I say comedy because it isn’t really a comedy, it’s more of a serious drama that happens to be really funny. It’s slapstick humour but set on a backdrop of something as serious as The Hamburg Cell.

It was brilliant.

A lot of people said it was really toned down before it was allowed to be released. However I didn’t feel it was particularly toned down at all (which should make the director’s cut really interesting!). That isn’t to be confused with controversial however – the film certainly was not an attack on Islam, it presented a balanced view.

It was very Chris Morris with some amazing throw away lines and easily misable humour that will no doubt provide many more laughs the second time round (think along the lines of “so much for reported crime – but crime we know nothing about is going up as well”). Well worth going to see.

We are pleased to announce the addition of Simon Munnery to the already exciting line up of speakers for the Enquiry 2010 Conference!

Simon, also known by his stagenames of Alan Parker: Urban Warrior and The League Against Tedium, has previously worked alongside Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and Steve Coogan and his material often wanders onto the topic of atheism and religion.

Indeed I first saw Simon during a show he did with Stewart Lee in York a few months ago and was so impressed that I asked him to speak there and then.

More speakers are still to be announced for Enquiry 2010, so if you haven’t picked up your ticket yet head over to the Enquiry 2010 Conference website and sign up – tickets are available from £49 standard and £29 student!

Last weekend Robin Ince was kind enough to stop by to give us a talk before doing a gig at The Library later that night. While I sometimes find his material a little hit and miss, live he is an excellent performer and I really enjoyed both the talk and the show.

Last Saturday I headed over to York to see Stewart Lee.

The opening had Simon Munnery opening for him who was in my opinion as good as Lee himself, especially when he moved onto Dawkins. “I’m writing a new book called The Salad Delusion. There’s no such thing as salad – it’s just different ingredients on a plate.”

Afterwards Stewart Lee came back to the stage for his new show, If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One. Yes the criticisms are true, he did spend around twenty minutes talking about how he wished Richard “The Hamster” Hammond was dead but then again, it’s just a joke, like on the Top Gear! In any case, highly recommend for fans of Stewart Lee ;).