Comedy: Pointless Anger, Righteous Ire

Robin Ince and Michael Legge bring their fury to Brighton for one of the funniest shows around

O ne of the most uplifting and yet packed with schadenfreude shows to come to Brighton in recent years, Pointless Anger, Righteous Ire is a fabulous little show to lift you out of the doldrums and embrace the grumpy git in us all.

Both Robin Ince and Michael Legge are comedians who have made a very good living out of berating the rest of the world for just not getting ‘it’. Whether ‘it’ is religious wars or willful ignorance of Doctor Who, these are two almost middle-aged (depending upon your definition of when that particular life state kicks in) men facing up to the fact that they are grumpy and absolutely languishing in it, much to our amusement.

This may sound self-indulgent but there’s a glee to their woes, and a contemporary currency that allows an edge to their material, in that it can include many things that have simply happened on the way to the show that day. Legge and Ince have been turning life into comedy for decades, and as such there is no stumbling with the new stuff, simply joy at having discovered it.

This forum, as well as delighting in the variety of minutiae – for it is minutiae, this is not the stage for world politics, more the purging of preposterous annoyances – also collects submissions from its audience. This is not compulsive, so don’t panic. It does, however, foster an environment of comradery rare to find at any performance. Like a verbal Fight Club, we share our embarrassing niggles along with our hosts, and each topic in concluded with a group vote as to whether this is: pointless anger or righteous ire.

Last month’s popular topics included giving a toddler a grown-up ice-cream (they’re going to drop it!) and cheap knicker elastic. Bring your own, or simply revel in shared agreement of others’ grievances.
Upstairs At Three And Ten, Monday 14 April 2014, £10/8.50, 8pm, www.upstairsatthreeandten.co.uk

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