Review – The Comedy Crate and Northampton Comedy Festival present Phil Nichol and Paul Tonkinson, Work in Progress, Cheyne Walk Club, Northampton, 30th July 2026

Time for the final Edinburgh Preview show this summer, before the Fringe gets underway next week. Once again, those nice people at the Comedy Crate have put together a double bill of top-quality comedians to hone their material before the Big Event.

Our first act, however, doesn’t have an Edinburgh show this year – instead, Paul Tonkinson promised us an hour of his best material, and he certainly delivered that. He has the aura of an old-school, rather traditional comedian, taking familiar, relatable subjects like wife, kids, sex, etc, but with a deceptively modern twist. We learned about skiing holidays hosted by the mysterious Pierre, how despite hailing from Yorkshire, living in north London means he is surrounded by posh kids, and how doggy style in their household has a somewhat different meaning. Very likeable, very confident, with an easy delivery, his set was an excellent start to the evening.

After the interval it was time for someone we’ve seen many times before, the always engaging and dynamic Phil Nichol. If you search his name in the Edinburgh Fringe site you’ll find he’s involved in no fewer than four Edinburgh shows this year, but his work in progress yesterday was for his new show, Aren’t We Lucky, which will play every day at the Gilded Balloon Teviot from 5^th to 30^th August except the 17^th. Aren’t We Lucky has a rather cosmic premise, which I won’t spoil for you, suffice to say that the odds that we are all together at the same time to enjoy the same performance are pretty low. Lou Reed and the Barenaked Ladies play a part – as do Phil’s very Christian parents – other very non-Christian parents are also available. En route, we discover the benefits of being 61, and the story of how his family managed to gain Canadian citizenship. He presents an eclectic jumble of comedy threads, all delivered in his trademark high-energy, lovable rascal style. He was the first to admit there’s still a little bit of work to do before Edinburgh, but – hey, he’s still got six days! And we were all overdosing on laughter anyway, so I’m sure this show will be a great success at the Fringe.

And that’s it for the comedy previews – next week, the serious business starts!