Tag Archives: Paul Revill

Review – The Comedy Crate, Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 9th January 2025

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A great line up for the first Comedy Crate of the year at the Bradlaugh, and despite the nipping and eagerly cold night, a packed house of comedy devotees had an amazing time. Our host for the night was the warm and friendly Paul Revill, no stranger to this stage, who went about his task of getting to know the audience with his usual attack and merriment. He explored the possibilities of Hi-Vis bedroom antics, ascertained the most popular Quality Street amongst the audience, and spent the evening trying to work out in which field reticent third-row Leon was an expert. This was a burning question that was never truly answered, but Mr R kept everything moving and provided a delightful conduit between us and the three comedians sitting at the back.

None of the acts was new to us, so we already knew we were in for a great night. First up was Michelle Shaughnessy, emigrated from Canada three years ago without ever having set foot in the UK before – was it a wise move? She tells us about breaking up with her husband, her subsequent dating experiences and the benefits of sugar daddies, all with a marvellously confiding style, stringing us along with solid comedy material before delivering a hilariously unexpected punchline. Tremendously confident and assured, this is smart and clever comedy of the highest order.

Second up was Gbemi Oladipo, whom we last saw a few months ago in front of a very small audience where he worked his socks off to make an impact. Now, with a bigger, fully engrossed audience, he hit the ground running with some wonderfully daring material which, in the hands of a lesser mortal, could have sunk without trace; but Mr O has quickly become a true master of delivering bold, race-themed comedy, where you never feel uncomfortable because you’re always laughing your heart out. I wasn’t expecting him to touch politics, but his Kemi Badenoch material is fantastic! I also loved how including him on a recruitment panel backfired, the horrors of finding his mother’s sex manual, and why you should only have white male pilots on a plane. Everyone adored him and we can’t wait to see him again.

Our headliner was the inestimable Hal Cruttenden, whom we last saw in Edinburgh where he created a show based on the horrors of his recent divorce. Three years on, and he hasn’t been backward in coming forward going on new dates, which he tells us about with his irrepressible relish. He also reflects on how the world today is most definitely not what it was, which sounds like it would be a downer, but Mr C can make a shopping list funny. Fearing for the future of democracy, he sympathises with any young people in the audience (not that there were many of those!) His insight into why young people of today couldn’t be called up to go to war is brilliant, and one can only admire his self-awareness as to where he falls in the spectrum of a woman’s sequence of lovers, if I can express it that way. He ended his set with a hilarious story of what happened when he performed comedy to a group of young soldiers safely removed from Afghanistan, with all the death and destruction they would have seen. Doesn’t sound like comedy material – but in the hands of an expert like Mr C, it truly is.

A fantastic way to start the comedy year, and there is a bonus Bradlaugh night next Friday, 17th January – can’t wait!

Review – The Comedy Crate and Castle Comedy present Comedy at the Abbey, Delapre Abbey, Northampton, 17th May 2024

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So here’s a new comedy initiative, courtesy of those nice people at the Comedy Crate (and I am sure nice people at Bedford’s Castle Comedy also), an impressive comedy line up under the sky in the beautiful grounds of Northampton’s Delapre Abbey. What could be finer than a warm blue sky gently twinkling its stars as comedy stars also twinkle on the stage? And even if there is the occasional raindrop or the odd attack by a plethora of flying bugs attracted by the lights, who cares?!

An abbey, you ask? Were we entertained by a group of Cistercian monks? Not quite. Our host for the evening was the bright and happy Paul Revill, whose main task it was to keep everything on track and get to know a few of the front row punters at the same time. No mean feat that, as the open-air aspect of the show meant there was naturally more of a distance between us and them. Nevertheless, Mr R did a great job and was slowly able to reveal that the audience was, in fact, a secret collective from Northampton Council, covering bins, resettlement housing, property maintenance… you name it, we covered it.

First up, and someone whom we haven’t seen live for nine years, was the splendid Zoe Lyons, a truly adroit performer who mines excellent laughs from recognisable mundane aspects of daily life. She has brilliant routines about living with a seventeen year old Jack Russell – you could almost smell the little devil from your seat from her descriptions – and what happens when a bunch of menopausal women go sea swimming in Brighton. She sets up an excellent rapport with the audience, was extremely funny throughout and was a perfect start to the night.

Next, and someone we’ve seen several times before, was Nathan Caton, a naturally funny guy who gives us a different slice of life as a newlywed still suffering from the costs of his extravagant wedding, and how he is (in his words) a mummy’s boy and soft as sh*t despite his height and imposing appearance. No friend of Gen-Z types, so it was fortunate there weren’t any in. He had the best joke of the night – involving his reasoning behind why he can no longer take porn seriously. He has a fluid, assured delivery and elicits some huge belly laughs. Always a pleasure to watch him at work.

Our headliner, and someone we last saw live fourteen years ago (yikes!) was Gary Delaney – a master of the one-liner and a comedy stage presence to die for. With him it’s a never ending stream of gem after gem, sometimes at a speed that takes your breath away. Mr D seemed to enjoy his set – appreciating how quickly we were getting the punchlines before he’d delivered them! He was thrown by two unexpected heckles: one from one of the aforementioned flying bugs that seemed to go for his jugular, and by an audience member pointing out the moon to his friend. I think it was the first time Mr D had been upstaged by a celestial being – but to be fair to the audience member, the moon was doing some really weird things that night! There aren’t many clean jokes in Gary Delaney’s repertoire – but there are some extremely filthy ones! And he kept us fully entertained long into the night. Great stuff!

A highly enjoyable evening – let’s hope they do it again sometime!

Review – Christmas Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 21st December 2023

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Christmas Comedy Crate gigs are like buses – you don’t get any all year round and then two come along within a week of each other! A super packed house at the Charles Bradlaugh had a brilliant night of it with not four but five funny people to send us into the Festive Season with thoroughly tickled ribs.

Our MC for the night was Paul Revill, and he is totally ace at the job. He has a warm and reassuring style that lulls you into telling him all the things he wants to know and then turns them around into fantastic comedy. Poor 18-year-old Seb was centre front row and found himself the subject of a lot of attention; and I loved Paul’s comedic response to discovering that an audience member worked for Specsavers. Whether it’s comparing favourite Quality Streets or deciding which part of the body will give the love, he keeps the whole thing moving at a cracking pace and made us all feel completely at home.

Our first act was Josh Pugh, always an unpredictable, sparky comic presence, with a lovely sense of the ridiculous and a misleadingly accomplished delivery. He has great material about being a new father, and excellent observations about the attitude progression from parent to grandparent – and everything he says is absolutely true. He sets up a great relationship with the audience and you know from the start you’re going to have a great time in his company. A superb way to start the evening.

A slightly different structure to this show, we then had two comedians after the first interval, and both were new to us. First up was Nuala Ryan, a slightly more mature pocket rocket of a comedian, with an appealing likeable presence and some good material about relationships as you grow older – or the lack of them. Thoroughly entertaining and lots to laugh at!

Next was Jin Hao Li, a remarkable new find in the comedy world; a young man with a softly surreal approach to his material, incredibly quirky, deceptively benign and with the ability to twist a story in a totally unexpected direction at the turn of a hat. Unsettling at first, but once you get his drift, he’s completely hilarious.

Our headliner was Matt Richardson, who hits the ground running with a sequence of great comic material about married life and parenting. He has terrific routines about men dealing with tampons and no longer being able to decide for themselves what time they go to bed, and they’re hilarious in both their inventiveness and their accuracy. To be fair, he did give us quite a lot of the same material as the last time we saw him, but it’s so good it’s always worth a re-run!

Thanks to the Crate team for bringing so much comedy to Northampton and its environs, and we look forward to another jam-packed year of laughter in 2024!

Review – The Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 13th January 2022

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It’s been a good few years since we’ve seen comedy at the Charles Bradlaugh and – apart from the obvious pandy-problem – I wonder why it’s been so long. It’s an excellent venue for this kind of show; comfortable, with great sightlines, a well-run fully-stocked bar within ten seconds walk of your seat, and with those nice people at The Comedy Crate in charge of hiring the turns, you always get a great programme to enjoy.

Unusually for us, three of the four comedians who plied their trade at last night’s show were new to us. Our MC was Paul Revill, an engaging and friendly chap who brings a positive vibe to the stage, with that rare knack of interacting with the audience and encouraging our participation without terrifying us at the same time. He elicited details about the secret hair salon on Abington Street, the lads celebrating the birth of a baby and got me to suggest that we should welcome the first act on from our collective groins of love – you had to be there. Amongst his other material I loved his explanation of how a Quality Street could be an insult after Christmas over-indulgence. He kept everything going at a great pace and set us up superbly for the fun to follow.

Our first act was Matt Richardson, of whom I’ve heard but never seen, an energetic and riotously funny guy who takes some of the more delicate aspects of relationships and explores them without fear. I loved the idea that, once you get a girlfriend, you’re no longer in charge of your bedtimes – it’s so true! Brilliant observations about over-rated sexual practices, and (literally) hands-on material about how a man deals with a tampon. Mrs Chrisparkle remarked how it’s becoming more common for male comedians to do period jokes – which, let’s face it, is where angels fear to tread – and Mr Richardson did it with great aplomb and got it absolutely right, judging from the laughter coming from Mrs C. Great work!

Next up, and another new name to us, was Fiona Ridgewell; another warm and engaging personality who uses her physical presence to excellent effect with observations about the usefulness (or otherwise) of having big nostrils and a long neck. She has great observations about what it’s like to be a member of an all-female household of three generations, and is very adept with interacting with the crowd, which was great fun. She also has a great sequence about the knock-on effect of being dumped by a boyfriend without explanation. Nicely self-deprecating and with loads of attack, she’s definitely one to watch!

Our headline act, and the only person we’ve seen before – and always enjoyed – was Dan Antopolski, as sure-footed as a mountain gazelle with his brilliant manner of setting up an intellectually-based premise and then kicking it in the teeth. With so many hilarious observations about family life, it’s a pleasure to be entertained by someone who knows their craft inside and out. Superb.

The next Comedy Crate gig at the Bradlaugh is on February 10th – we can’t go, but you should!