Comedy: Does size matter?

If you put the show on ‘right here’, it might make a difference if you go for a cavern or a cubbie hole

November has arrived, and with it the chill in the air, socks perma-drying on every available radiator, and comedy nights large and small. Which brings us back to the age old question: does size (of venue) really matter?

This month sees Noel Fielding come to town performing at The Brighton Centre. There has been much discussion in recent years, as more comics have taken to the arena tour route like Scrooge McDuck to a safe full of spondoolas, as to whether the intimacy of a truly great comedy gig can be re-created in these cavernous venues. The answer is not straightforward, but it is simple: it depends on the comic.

Last month I saw Michael McIntyre reduce the Brighton Dome’s Concert Hall to the cosiness of someone’s front room as he drew us in with his material and filled the stage with his persona. Equally, there will have been a number of emerging comics who will have communicated quite how cavernous the gap between act and audience can feel when playing to the upstairs room in The Victory pub.

Bigger venues can work perfectly well, provided the performer playing in them can fill them. And that’s not just fill them with people, but fill them with a show – with their persona – so that every spectator is on the edge of their seat leaning forward to get a little closer to the action. Like those few inches will make all the world of a difference. Lee Evans did it at the Brighton Centre; so did Eddie Izzard and Russell Brand. Now it’s Noel Fielding’s turn.

The marvellous thing about smaller venues is the real chance to catch something that might only happen on that one night.

A massive show must be choreographed – think of the dancing elephants in Fantasia, then imagine one of them tripping. A smaller show allows for more detail and chance – just remember the simplicity of Charlie Chaplin turning two bread rolls on forks into a comical dance. Bigger is not necessarily better, but it doesn’t have to be bad either. Ultimately, it just comes down to two things – performance and content.

A Tribe Called Quest said it best: “Can I kick it? Yes, I can.” Nice one, Quest.

Comedy Cooler with Mark Silcox, The Verdict, Thursday 6 November, 7.30pm, £5.
An Evening With Noel Fielding, The Brighton Centre, Saturday 29 November, 8pm, £25, 0844 847 1515, www.brightoncentre.co.uk

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