Stephen K Amos Archives - The Real Chrisparkle

One of our favourite funny men, Stephen K Amos is midway through his UK tour of his latest show Now We’re Talking, and it was a delight to see the Underground in Northampton sold out to greet him. Would he have a support act? He addressed the issue in his opening moments when he candidly confessed, he normally would but decided he couldn’t afford one this week. Consequently, we had a good two hours or more of undiluted Mr Amos, and I for one am not complaining.

His message in his latest show is that, in these awful days where everything seems to be going what my father used to call arse-uppards, we need to talk but moreover we really need to listen. It is still possible to “find the funny” in the most unusual or indeed impossible situations – and Mr A is a master of that art. Everyone says you can’t say anything nowadays, which anyone with an ounce of understanding realises is not true; you can, but you just have to be more skilled at it. As Mr A says, if you think and if you listen, you can say what you like; just don’t imitate your Nigerian doctor – as he gamely demonstrated.

Stephen K Amos has always incorporated his brilliant fluidity with accents and attitude in his act, to tremendous comic effect. He wastes no time getting to know the people in the front rows – beware if you sit close to the stage when he’s on, as you will get involved! We met Andrew and Jo from posh Market Harborough, baker Megan and Police officer Georgie; others who remained nameless included a relentless scoffer of Maltesers and someone who chucked him a caveat which Mr A rightly interpreted as a masked heckle, and as a result he regretted his words for the rest of the evening. For all that he’s a hilarious comic, Mr A can get quite ruthless with the audience, so you’d better have your wits about you if you engage unwisely!

At the end of the act, his astute mind and rigorous memory let loose a terrific final routine where he creates a story populated with all the characters in the audience with whom he’s spoken, imitating their manner using their words back at them. It’s incredibly clever and shows just what a smart cookie he is. Mr Amos’ comedy is always intelligent and thoughtful; his observations are well-reasoned and hit the nail on the head. And despite all the problems with the world, you come away from the show feeling uplifted; his is a very optimistic act, and we definitely need more of that!

Hilarious comic observations? For sure. Wordplay? You got it. Instant comic reactions to anything the audience throws at him? Absolutely! The Now We’re Talking tour continues throughout the UK until 7^th February; he’s then touring in Australia from March to May with a couple of dates in New Zealand at the end.

A happy welcome back to the Upfront Comedy team, bringing a little light and laughter into a Northampton Sunday evening. Hosted by the inimitable John Simmit, also known as The Artist Formerly Known as Dipsy, he told us of his grim experience of getting back from a gig in Ulverston over the weekend when there were no trains. Nasty. My sympathy stopped, however, when he said that Eurovision (which had taken place the day before) is rubbish. Minus mark to Mr Simmit – time to join the 21^st century!

All the acts had the benefit of noticing a young lad in the front row seeing the show with his Mum. We ascertained that he was 16 years old, and I think his name was Anand. My guess is that he was a lot more knowledgeable about many aspects of life and language by the end of the evening.

Our first act, and someone new to us, was Sukh Ojla, a very jolly lady with a lot of very enjoyable material about living at home with your parents at the age of 38, deciding she’s now way too old for an arranged marriage, and trying to ascertain who else in the audience was hopelessly single. She has a very appealing stage persona and a warm way of communicating with the audience that made it easy for us to confide in her. A very happy start to the proceedings.

Next up, and someone whom we’ve seen at an Upfront gig before, was John Ryan, whose act is all based on promoting equality; so even though he looks like he’d be a wise-cracking London comic of the old school, he’s as right-on as right-on can be. He explores racial and ethnic stereotypes with effortless ease and you know he’s never going to put a foot wrong as far as giving offence is concerned. It’s a clever act because it fools with the audience’s preconceptions, and he has a lot of entertaining material.

Nevertheless, as we went into the interval there was a slight feeling that somehow the evening as a whole was holding back – whether the audience weren’t quite letting themselves go, or whether the acts weren’t quite tickling our funnybones, it was hard to tell. However, the second half of the show devoted a big chunk of time to the company of headliner Stephen K Amos, and he completely nailed it. He grabs an audience by the scruff of the neck and dares them not to adore everything he does. Almost all his act is simply reacting to whatever the audience offers him – so young Anand was a gift, but when he realised brother and sister Matt (47) and Claire (44) had brought their mum and dad along with them it was like all his Christmases had come at once. Biffing off hecklers with withering putdowns, always choosing le mot juste and with immaculate timing, it was an hour or so of pure comedic beauty.

Upfront Comedy will return later this year and I’ll definitely be there!