Comedy: Celebrate the solo stand-up show
Celebrate the solo stand-up show
Solo shows are a different beast from their assembled line-up comedy compadres. As enjoyable as an evening of mixed comics is, creating a taste sensation as spicy one-liners contrast with rich anecdotal laughs, they are always playing to an audience that has come out to see ‘comedy’, rather than people who have arrived to see them specifically. So the solo show is an opportunity to showcase the best of a comedian’s material for an entire hour, with the chance to play the long game. No battling with boisterous stag do’s and drunken revellers here – instead, you hear their individual tone, their drawn out material that’s given room to breath and come to full fruition uninterrupted by the job of fire-fighting hecklers and the limitations of a 20 minute set. Again: it’s a different beast.
In town this week there’s a chance to see plenty of solo shows, giving you the full tour of each comic’s style of humour and the chance to select the ones that tickle your fancy the most. Even if the first one has three of them on a single ticket.
Diane Spencer (Chortle Best Newcomer 2011) displays her posh girl persona with ‘inappropriate’ language, sharing the night with cheeky chappie Stephen Bailey (Big Brother’s Bit On The Side), and Laura Lexx (Chortle Student Comedy Award finalist and Squawkers finalist) and her cut-glass delivery of always strong material. That’s just Tuesday night at the Caroline Of Brunswick.
On Thursday you’ll find award-winning comic and familiar face for fans of TV stand-up Alun Cochrane over at Komedia. His dry sardonic delivery serves up a likeable and thought-provoking storyteller.
And the week rounded off nicely by Sean McLoughlin’s turn at Komedia, his slender frame rammed full of angst and skipping about ‘the line’ with the skill of an Irish dancer on the edge of a precipice.
Pick one night. Pick several. There’s plenty to take the long ride with, and enjoy the tailored journey.
Diane Spencer + Stephen Bailey + Laura Lexx, Caroline Of Brunswick, Tuesday 23 February, 7.15pm, £7/5, carolineofbrunswick.co.uk
Alun Cochrane: A Show With A Man In It, Komedia, Thursday 25 February, 8pm, £12.50, www.komedia.co.uk/brighton
Sean McLoughlin, Komedia, Friday 26 February, 8pm, £10, www.komedia.co.uk/brighton
