Tag Archives: Pete Teckman

Review – Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 11th January 2024

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It’s a welcome back to the Comedy Crate for their first gig of the new year at the Charles Bradlaugh. January is seen as an iffy month for comedy, but there was an almost full house of comedy-goers itching for their first show of the year. We had seen all the acts before but knew them to be top quality – as the evening proved.

Our host was the Pride of Northampton, Pete Teckman, who got us warmed up by discovering comedy nuggets from the crowd, including the front row newbies who looked far too young to be married 22 years and to have six children. We also met the man who kept introducing his friends as his family, and Jordan who tags along with couple George and Jodie, but they all seem happy with the arrangement. There was also Chris, who might get a proposal from his girlfriend this leap year but isn’t sure if he wanted the government to be involved. As Pete pointed out, they never come and make a bedroom inspection afterwards.

First up was Rachel Fairburn, whom we’d last seen inducing a medical emergency with material about serial killers at a Screaming Blue Murder night. Fortunately Ms Fairburn left that routine out, and instead treated us to some excellent material about the complexities of being working class with middle class friends, the pros and cons of Oliver Bonas and a fantasy throuple with an ex-Home Secretary and a BBC Sports Presenter. She has a sharp, perceptive presence on stage and delivers her material with an engaging perkiness and lovely timing. A great start to the evening.

Next up was the gently neurotic Jamie D’Souza, a man of eclectic heritage with a very nicely underplayed style. He’s delightfully self-deprecating, with tales of sharing a house with his gay housemate and his relationship with his girlfriend – that’s Jamie’s relationship, not his housemate’s – bringing out seemingly insignificant moments and making great comedy material out of them. I also really like his deliberate and careful use of language that sets you up to expect one thing, then delivers another. Clearly a very funny man.

Our headliner was Aurie Styla, who burst onto the comic scene as an “internet viral sensation” about seven years ago and has gone from strength to strength with his confident, engaging presence and relatable material. He talks about his current transatlantic relationship with his New York based girlfriend, who wonders if they should settle in Luton – and there are too many reasons why this is not a good idea, as Mr S explains. He also has some great material about what life is like as a comic on a cruise ship – and the Comedy Crate crowd is the perfect age group to appreciate that! He sets up a great rapport with the audience and his energy never falters throughout his act. A fitting end to a superb night of comedy.

The next comedy night at the Bradlaugh is a Work in Progress show with Jessica Fostekew, and it’s been ten years since we last saw her, so that should be great!

Review – Comedy Crate at V&B, Northampton, 5th December 2023

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The Comedy Crate took over the upstairs room at V&Bs yesterday for another cracking night of comedy in one of Northampton’s most upmarket venues! The layout and seating had improved from the last show back in October and the town’s comedy fans enjoyed a veritable feast of hilarity from start to finish with four cracking acts all on top form.

Our host, as in October, was local lad Pete Teckman, a jovial japester with an easy style, and a nice way of getting comedy gold from the audience, which this time included my father-in-law, Lord Prosecco, explaining the secret of his youth much to the embarrassment of Mrs Chrisparkle and myself. Pete got to know the marital ins and outs of a few of the punters, and I loved his unique take on connubial Wordle.

Our first act, and new to us, was Michelle Shaughnessy, a smart talking cookie from Toronto, coping with a long-distance relationship, and offering brilliant observations about stalking her husband and some blistering couple of lines about landing strip lady gardens. At some point during her routine she twigged that the average age of the V&B audience definitely falls on the mature side, and she nicely tweaked her material to suit us. Confident, ascerbic and very funny, she was a great start to the evening.

Next up, and also new to us, was Kent Cameron, a massive scary deep-voiced pale Scottish ginger, who’s obviously as soft as cottage cheese, and he plays on that juxtaposition between appearance and content absolutely beautifully. He sets up a brilliant rapport with the crowd and we all loved him. He has terrific material – which sounds like it should be challenging but is truly good-natured – about his acromegaly, a form of gigantism. And he finished his set with one of the funniest sequences of stand-up I’ve ever heard, his account of being on the receiving end of a colonoscopy – something that the average age of the audience meant we all knew a lot about. A fantastic new find.

Our headliner, and someone we’ve seen many times, was the irrepressible Roger Monkhouse, with his superbly structured comedy of middle-aged ennui, disdain of young people (not many of those in last night!) and delightfully unreasonable anger at the world in general. A self-confessed 58-year-old, his set was full of hilarious observations, framed by his wonderfully self-deprecating comic persona, and all beautifully delivered. He had us all in the palm of his hand – even if most of us were thinking he was a trifle on the young side.

One of those excellent comedy nights when everyone was a winner. The Comedy Crate return to V&B next year, but meanwhile I’m looking forward to their next show at the Charles Bradlaugh on 14th December!

Review – Comedy Crate at V&B, Northampton, 17th October 2023

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Back at the Comedy Crate and my first time seeing a gig in the upstairs room at V&B in glitzy, cosmopolitan, downtown Northampton. A fun, intimate venue and top quality drinkies! What more could you ask? Well maybe some top quality comedy too, and they had that in abundance.

Our host for the evening was local lad Pete Teckman (I say lad – by the sound of it we both celebrated our 60th birthdays during Lockdown 1.0). He gets an easy rapport with the audience, and quickly got to know Amber, Joseph and Dan in the front row, as, indeed, we all did. Comedy newbie Amber gradually learned that it’s easy to give too much personal response to the niceties of the comedian on stage; Dan, on the other hand, never really came to terms with this concept. Pete treated us to some excellent material and kept the whole thing going with confidence and nicely turned self-deprecation.

Our first act, someone we’ve seen many times and it’s always a delight, was Mary Bourke; brimming with attitude and always teetering on the edge of comedy disdain, she gave us her hilarious insights into life in Crouch End, dealing with consensual banter, winning the battle over a disabled parking space, and much more. Her timing is always immaculate; she radiates a tiny sense of danger which only adds to the comic frisson of her material. And, may I say, a beautiful use of similes – she’s a terrific wordsmith. A great way to start the night.

Next up, and new to us, was Birmingham’s own Hasan Al-Habib, a young chap with a tremendous range of entertaining voices that he uses to great effect. Most of his material centres on his Arab appearance and heritage, playing on prejudices and cultural differences, which in an inexperienced hand could go awfully wrong, but Hasan nails it perfectly with delicate precision and a keen sense of identifying the funny side in everything.

Our headliner, and someone we’ve only seen in a Zoom gig before (thanks Covid) was President Obonjo, dictator of the Lafta Republic, a brilliant comic creation and a vision in intimidating combats. He is able to both take the rise out of your “typical” African dictator – an Idi Amin crossed with a Bokassa and a bit of Mugabe chucked in for good measure – and also cast a critical eye over current British democracy for comparison. I love the idea that he is based in St Albans, that just seems so bizarre; he also picked out good-natured Jordan in the second row for special “shared race” treatment, which worked superbly. And he quickly identified front-row Dan; I doubt he’ll ever get a visa to visit Lafta.Fearless, challenging, and incredibly funny; I also love the way he occasionally lets the façade drop a little to reveal the real person behind the mask. A tremendous end to a superb night.

It’s always a delight to be able to write up a comedy night that was a winner from start to finish. More Comedy Crate gigs coming up soon, with a new act new material night at Saints Coffee on the 25th, and a return to V&B on 5th December, with Roger Monkhouse topping the bill.

Review – JAM Comedy Club presents Comedy at the Ark, Northampton, 12th October 2016

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A few weeks ago, a flyer popped into my letter box, advertising a comedy night at the Ark Restaurant, in Midsummer Meadow, Northampton. That’s only a short distance from us. I’d seen that the Ark was – shall we say – being underused at the moment; so it seemed not only an excellent idea for it to be the location for a comedy club but also for us to go along and check it out. I’m happy to report back that it’s a great venue for an intimate’s night comedy. Not sure what its total capacity is, but I reckon there were about 35 or so of us there last night and it felt comfortably full but not squished. By the way, I can recommend the Malbec at £15 per bottle – good quality and tasty; we didn’t sample the light bites but they looked and smelled delish.

JAM Comedy Club is new to me and I hadn’t come across any of the acts before (although I had of course heard of the final act, if you read on…) Our host for the night was Mr Andy, a big engaging chap with a relaxed way about him, who obviously wants to have as much fun from the evening for himself, just as much as he wants us to enjoy it too. He has some great material, some of which he spins off his own blindness in a way that’s genuinely funny – and I liked how he generously bigged up the excellent, also blind, Chris McCausland too.

Our first act was local man Pete Teckman. He’s a naturally very funny guy, who you sense has built up his range of comic material from a lifetime of unglamorous living (and I mean that kindly). He had some terrific jokes about… well, sex, mainly; the method of his sperm count test and his personal accounts of enjoying oral sex come to mind, if you’ll pardon the expression. He has some great recollections about his German ex-girlfriend, and I really loved the throwaway line about seeing Predator at the cinema. He has an excellent stage presence and a strong, confident voice and manner, and is someone I’d definitely like to see again!

Unfortunately, he proved a hard act to follow, and, given there was an interval as well, it was very difficult for our second act, Anthony Burgess, to regain the momentum that Mr Teckman had set up. For whatever reason, he failed to make a connection in his first few interactions, and basically he spent the rest of his act treading water. He did a fairly lengthy sequence about someone or something called Screech, from some programme we had never seen (Saved by the Bell, I remember now) and it meant absolutely nothing to us. Nevertheless, he has very good comic timing, and obviously can incorporate music into his routine too, so maybe with some better material and a more confident delivery he could do well.

Hot on his heels came the Reverend Henry King, the Bishop of Bletchley. I have a sneaking suspicion, gentle reader, that he may have falsified his ordination certificate and isn’t really a bishop at all. It’s a great persona, this street-talking, crime-approving parody of a man of the cloth, and at times it really works. His side-swipes at his diocese are cruel but very funny. But I think there is an inconsistency to his material that lets him down a bit; and naturally it’s a character that is inevitably going to rub some people up the wrong way. I sensed he divided the audience somewhat; there was an element of homophobia in one of his gags, and that always puts my back up – we’re not a sophisticated comedy audience in Northampton by any means, but the one thing we are not is prejudiced. Nevertheless, he is a funny guy; what he lacks in PC he certainly makes up for in attack, and he did make me laugh.

After a second interval, and a refresh of the Malbec (just one more glass, not a complete bottle, obviously!) it was time for our final act, Masai Graham. Mr Graham won this year’s “Joke of the Edinburgh Fringe” award, and no sooner had he started to tell it, then someone from the audience leapt in and delivered the punchline. I wonder if that happens to him all the time? He’s a class act – he’s funny, he’s open, he’s likeable and he has fantastic, deceptively simple and deadpan material that just gets you laughing your head off. I’m still giggling about the fat badger, and that Royal Mail joke was simply ace. As adept with clean jokes as he is with naughty ones – in fact the clean ones are particularly crafted to perfection. We both thought he was pretty darn brilliant.

Let’s hope this becomes a regular comedy club – it was a really enjoyable night and it deserves to become a success.