Review – Screaming Blue Murder, Underground at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 27th January 2023

Posted on January 30, 2023 by therealchrisparkle

A big welcome back to Screaming Blue Murder and their first gig of the year which had sold out well in advance. An unusual vibe this time – although quite a refreshing one – in that there were approximately 20 17- and 18-year-olds from Northampton School for Boys (who were mostly girls, and I still haven’t quite figured that out) populating the front rows. Fortunately, they threw themselves whole-heartedly into the proceedings, and (mostly) laughed their socks off all night.

This presented an interesting challenge to our regular genial host, Dan Evans, who quickly got them splitting their sides. It’s true – he suggested that all the older people would be looking at fresh-faced 17-year-old Joshua, purely with the intent of harvesting his organs. Guilty as charged. It wasn’t all kiddiwinks though, with poor Mark on his own in the front row surrounded by students, plus good sport Rob, vehicle salesman Ash and his mental health nurse wife whose name I’ve forgotten, soz.

First up was Iszi Lawrence, whom we’ve seen a couple of times before at Screaming Blue Murders – she always has great material, but it sometimes takes an audience a while to settle into her pattern. She has a lovely sequence about coming out as bi to her mum, and I did like the material about how she acquired her cat, grotesque sound effects and all. She gets carried away with the subject of dinosaurs, which she admits to herself isn’t funny but can be fascinating – if you’re also into dinosaurs. One of the lads from Northampton School for Boys was definitely into dinosaurs and was agreeing demonstrably with her. As for the rest of us… I’m not sure the dino material works really!

Next was someone new to us, Jamie D’Souza, a quirky mix of Swiss and Indian (Swindian – not from Swindon, it’s not that bad, as he said.) Immaculately funny, with a perfectly structured routine, beautifully chosen words revealing a true feel for the language, and absolutely superb timing. His whole performance is one big act of self-deprecation and it works brilliantly. So many clever throwaway lines, and he leads you up a garden path to expect an ending to a joke which turns out to be something completely different. I particularly loved his material about being hopeless and inexperienced at sex, and the idea of making “old person noises” when he sits down. Terrific – and someone we would definitely want to see again.

Our headliner, and someone who’s always an invigorating presence, was the musical comedy genius of Jonny Awsum. Uplifting, inclusive and very, very funny, he jumps from comedy song to comedy song and each one is a delight. I particularly liked his Humming Song, and he got Rob from the audience up to help him with his Rapping Rhymes sequence, which was brilliant. There’s also a song with a chorus involving a well-known TV chef; I just wonder if Mr Awsum realises the said chef died over three years ago. I guess it doesn’t matter!

A great night’s entertainment – looking forward to the next one in February; check for returns, as it’s already sold out!

Review – Screaming Blue Murder, Underground at the Derngate, Northampton, 19th January 2018

Posted on January 22, 2018 by therealchrisparkle

Now that 2018 is in full swing, it’s great to see that the Screaming Blue Murder comedy nights are back with several superb line-ups between now and May. Our genial host Dan Evans is also back in situ, this week trying to keep control of a very motley crew. Even before the show started the front couple of rows had turned into party central with endless selfie competitions, and a challenge to see which girl could manage the loudest cackle.

It wasn’t long before Dan identified her, and indeed she jumped up on stage with him at one point; poor lamb got a terrible fright (him, not her.) Our audience also boasted the man with the coolest job in the world, training the seals at Woburn Wildlife Park, and a firefighter who was having difficulty with Dry January. He felt embarrassed to mention it but we gave him a good cheer anyway.

So on with the acts, and some new ones for us; first up was Matthew Osborn, whom we’d not seen before. He’s quite a dapper little chap, with some brilliant material, and that’s not just the cut of his suit. Imagine the Daily Mail’s Quentin Letts doing stand-up. He has a wonderful confident delivery, happy to take it all at his own pace; and he trades on the fact that he looks and sounds totally respectable and then delivers some powerful and rather rude punchlines. I loved all his sex jokes – so much more inventive than the average comedian’s. His reaction to the girl who told him to treat her like a whore, what happened when he went down on one knee, and also when the Jehovah’s Witness tried to open the boot of his car – all really clever stuff. Very impressed, and he went down a storm!

Our second act, and the only one we’d seen before, back in September 2014 was Iszi Lawrence. She creates a lot of humour based on her lesbian chic looks and her posh heritage, and has some great material about being bisexual, the unglamorous sexuality. To be fair, it was pretty much the same routine that we saw last time, but it works well, so I guess why change it? She sets up a slightly intriguing and challenging rapport with the audience but her quirky approach appealed to us and we very much enjoyed her set.

Our headline act, who apparently has been on the scene for decades, but I’ve never come across him, was Brendon Burns. He has attack by the bucketload, and quite an aggressive delivery but his material is superb. He’s a full-on agenda comic; pro-equality, he sees men who describe themselves as feminists as deliberately invading one of the few areas in life where women can take control. Much of his comedy is about sex but approaching it from angles that you wouldn’t normally consider funny (that’s the material, not the sex). He has great material about how teenagers today, in this Internet porn age, are being told in sex education to have realistic expectations from sex – definitely food for thought. At the end of his act, on the one hand you feel like you’ve been aggressively diatribed against; on the other you have the beauty of insightful, revelatory comedy. Most impressive, and he got a great reaction from the audience.

Next one is on 16th February. See you there!

Review – Screaming Blue Murder, Underground at the Derngate, Northampton, 26th September 2014

Posted on September 29, 2014 by therealchrisparkle

Another great night of comedy entertainment at the Underground last Friday, even though the numbers were a little sparse; Mrs Chrisparkle and I took our usual seats in the third row by the centre aisle, but no one sat in front of us, so we defaulted to becoming “front row” again. However, we fortunately managed to largely avoid the limelight this week (unlike last time). The evening was MC’d under the comic guidance of our host Martin Coyote. He normally comes up and hosts a show at least once a season, and his very direct, attacking style makes a refreshing contrast with usual host Dan Evans, who’s much more laid back. Mr Coyote’s always got lots of topical material; this time he had some great observations about the Scottish Referendum, including Salmond’s, Darling’s and Brown’s input, and what would have happened if the yes’s had won. We’re not known for responding to political humour here in Northampton, but this was good stuff!

The first of our three acts, and new to us, was Iszi Lawrence, a delightfully well-spoken, Home Counties, tomboyish young lady, with some cracking observations about other posh people – we loved the idea of cocaine being acceptable providing it’s Fairtrade. She’s got some excellent material about coming out as bisexual, how irritating it is to flatshare with Christians because they’re so nice, and what career opportunities there are with a First in Geography. Whilst some elements of the audience were a little resistant to her humour, Mrs C and I thought she was great.

Second, and also new to us, was Troy Hawke, one of Milo McCabe’s comic creations who had his own show at Edinburgh this year (but alas we didn’t see it). He’s a really funny persona; suave, debonair, vain, slightly childish and occasionally challenging. Imagine Clark Gable telling (forgive me, gentle reader) c**t jokes and you’re partway there. He went off on an amazing flight of fantasy reading all sorts of hidden meanings into the Mr Men and Little Miss books that was comedy genius. One member of the audience challenged him on pronouncing cravat as crevette; I doubt she’ll do that again.

The headline act was someone we have seen twice before, Nick Wilty, who delivers a fast and wry routine jam-packed with subtle asides and self-deprecation. He bases a lot of his comedy on places he’s been round the world. It’s a very sure-footed act and you can’t fail to find him funny, although to be fair it has been more or less the same routine now three times in a row.