Tag Archives: Steve Day

Review – Comedy Crate at the Charles Bradlaugh, Northampton, 13th February 2025

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It was with a buzz of expectation that a merry band of a hundred or more souls settled down for another excellent line up of comedians at the Charles Bradlaugh, all arranged by those nice people at the Comedy Crate. Some new names to us, and some familiar; it was always going to be a great night.

Our host for the evening was the jovial Ross McGrane, whom we’d seen once before as the opening act at a Screaming Blue Murder, almost ten years ago. A naturally funny guy, he’s full of electric enthusiasm and is the perfect MC to get us all in the mood. As well as working his way around the crowd, he also shared some excellent comedy nuggets, such as an exploration of the cost of toys, and the childcare advice of his East Ham granny; I too had an East Ham granny, so can appreciate the veracity of her wisdom. He kept the whole thing going at a tremendous pace and was a classy conduit indeed.

First up, and someone we’ve seen many times before, was the fantastic Steve Day, still coming to terms with the potential for offence at the difference between deaf and Deaf; as a deaf comedian, no one can express that better than him. A terrific communicator, he has great material about having a household with grown up kids, his experience co-hosting a Paralympics event with Boris Johnson (shudder) and I still love his line about moving to beautiful Sutton Coldfield for the views. Bold and inventive, he takes comedy where angels fear to tread, and the audience loved him.

Two comedians shared the second spot, and we started with Harry Pettitt, introduced by Ross as Harry Kane for no discernible reason. A fresh-faced Essex lad who looks like butter wouldn’t melt, he has a confident stage presence and an instant connection with the audience. He gave us some very funny routines about the benefits of spending time with posh people and the joys of travelling. I reckon this young chap is going places. After him, came Matt Adlington, another naturally funny guy, who kept the energy up; continuing the Essex theme of the night, he has a smart delivery and a rather kindly presence. He was surprised to know how well we knew our Magpie material, and has a uniquely splendid reason for sporting a beard.

Our headliner was Jordan Gray, someone whom I’ve been fascinated to see ever since her devilish live TV appearance with Ben Elton. Her delivery style verges on the manic, leaping all over the stage, contorting her legs into unusual positions like a wannabe ballerina on speed. Most of her material stems from her life as a transgender woman, and it’s both incredibly emotional and unabashedly hilarious. What primarily comes through is her honesty; she’s outrageous but she’s truthful, unpredictable but, above all, very, very funny. We loved her witty song about being coeliac – as is Mrs Chrisparkle, so we both felt her pain – and she provided the perfect conclusion to a brilliant night of comedy.

Next Comedy Crate at the Bradlaugh is on 13th March – sadly, we can’t make it, but you should!

Review – Screaming Blue Murder, Underground at the Derngate, Northampton, 10th May 2019

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Once again, another Screaming Blue Murder and once again, sold out in advance – and quite right too, this is the best selection of Friday night comedy you could imagine at a cracking price. As usual our genial host was Dan Evans, he of the intimidating shiny bald pate (he’d agree, I’m sure) who this week compared baldness with another front row bald chap, but I’m not sure who won.

Among the other patrons for Dan to duel with were a carpenter who seemed only comfortable when talking about wood, a maker of Channel 4 documentaries (in Northampton! Who knew?), a pair of prison officers, pub landlords, a gloomy 44-year-old birthday boy and a huge hen party (by which I mean there were lots of them, not that she was a huge hen) in preparation for a wedding apparently still weeks away. That’s forward planning for you. As always, Dan deftly got a bit of comedy magic out of all of them.

We’d seen all three acts before, but they’re all definitely worth a re-watch. First up was Debra Jane Appleby, whom we saw here once before as an act, and once as MC when Dan was otherwise engaged. She looks like she might be somewhat hard-nosed and aggressive on stage but in fact she’s quite a pussycat once you get her vibe. Recently married, this time to a woman, she’s currently seeing life through a different lens, which is the source of a lot of fresh material. She’s the kind of act who takes a few subjects and explores them at length, rather than peppering her routine with lots of one-hit wonders. I very much enjoyed her observations on the benefits or otherwise of people living longer lives, and she has an enjoyable, relaxed style which was the perfect start for the night.

Next up, and in a change of programme, came Steve Day, whom we have seen twice before, but a long time ago. He is deaf, and the majority of his routine comes from finding the humorous side to living with a disability and specifically what you can achieve when you can barely hear anything. He’s got a great delivery style, with masses of confidence and a string of extremely funny material. Amongst his gems were moving to Sutton Coldfield because of the views, and what happened when he co-hosted the Paralympic Torch ceremony in London with Boris Johnson. We all loved him.

Our headline act was Mitch Benn, whom we saw here in 2014 and 2016. The great news is that he’s still incredibly funny, with a very lively mind and a capacity to weave the audience into his comedy musical material. He started with an absolutely astonishing song that included all the professions of the members of the audience that Dan had gleaned in his opening session – quite brilliant, and definitely the highlight of the night. The not so great news is that everything else he did was exactly the same as the previous two occasions he came here, including the (still funny) xenophobic Eurovision song and the (I don’t quite get it) Very Hungry Caterpillar song. If you’ve not seen him before, his is a highly entertaining act. It would be great if he could just make up a few new songs though?

As always a brilliant night’s comedy. And if you can’t wait until May 31st for the next Screaming Blue Murder, Dan’s appearing at the Brighton Fringe on May 18th, 23rd and 24th with his new show – which I’m sure will be first-rate. Sadly we can’t go, but you should!

Review – Screaming Blue Murder, Underground, Derngate, Northampton, 16th March 2012

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Great to see yet another very full house for the regular Screaming Blue Murder comedy club last Friday. Our compere was Dan Evans, on excellent form again, and getting us well warmed up with his interaction with the front rows. We were quite a lively bunch last Friday, so there was plenty of material for him to juggle with. I’m enjoying the way Dan now introduces new material with a crestfallen sigh as if to pave the way for its unsuccessful response – it’s becoming a very funny new theme for his compering!

Our first act was Paul Pirie. When I was getting the pre-show drinkies in, Paul Pirie was also at the bar, ordering a couple of drinks in a softly spoken and self-effacing manner. What a nice, unassuming and polite person he seemed, I thought. How different from his act! Aggressive and vulgar, the vast majority of his material seemed to concentrate on the more unpleasant bodily fluids and emissions, joking about people with disabilities, and doing to death each scenario he described with repeated sound effects. If he made a screaming noise to accompany, say, a stabbing action, he would do it about eight times, until he, and I, were exhausted with it. Additionally there was something wrong with his microphone, which meant that his voice was piercing and grating and went right through my brain. I spent his entire act with my right forefinger pressed on my eardrum. This act and I didn’t mix. However, in the interest of fairness, I have to say that the majority of the younger people in the audience found him hilarious.

Alas, the same could not be said for our second act, Sunna Jarman. She started very promisingly but for some reason could not quite hit her stride. I think she needs to strengthen her comic persona; she has some – very funny – lines that equate to her being a bit of a posh bird, and I think if she created some more snobbish material she could be much funnier. Even with her act going a bit wobbly, I still found her more entertaining than Paul Pirie. However, about seven minutes into her act, she was saying something detrimental about Katie Price (personally I have no problem with that), when she received a devastating heckle to the effect that at least Katie Price tells better jokes. Unfortunately, I don’t think she heard what the heckler said properly, so she ignored it; but the audience all heard it and basically agreed with it – and thus she was lost from then on. I’m pretty sure she cut and ran shortly afterwards.

Fortunately in came the cavalry to rescue the evening in the form of our final act, Steve Day. We’ve seen him here before a couple of years ago, and he is fantastically entertaining. He is deaf, and most of his material is based on being a deaf person in a hearing world, but it’s never sentimental or self-pitying, preachy or defensive. Some very insightful comedy about discrimination within disabilities, plus also some generally offbeat observations about families – and windfarms. So many great lines, I won’t spoil them by repeating them; but he is a superb comic as his massive reception at the end testified and you must catch him if you possibly can.

Review – Screaming Blue Murder, Derngate, Northampton, 28th October

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Another very good night at the Comedy Club, with Dan Evans compering again. An excellent crowd, one of those nights when they had to bring in extra seats, and that always helps the atmosphere.

First act was Gary Delaney, who shot off loads of one-liners throughout his set. 90% of them were really funny, although possibly not suitable for your maiden aunt. He had a great confident delivery and you were never worried he was going to dry up. In fact you felt he could have gone on for hours!

Second was Sally-Anne Hayward, who we had seen here before, on the 11th March to be precise. I don’t think her act had changed much, and so I don’t feel it was as funny this time round. But she ends on a great line – complaining to her mother about her boyfriend’s snoring, her mother advises her that it’s a shame but in a few weeks she’ll be complaining that he’s still breathing.

Finally we had Steve Day, whose set was the best of the night. Really funny observations on life from a deaf point of view, and specifically being a deaf performer, but without ever trading on it. An excellent line about taking a leaf out of David & Victoria Beckham’s book and naming their children after where they were conceived, thus the twins are called Elephant and Castle.

Next time it moves to a Friday. It will be interesting to see if they get more people. Judging from last night, they’ll need a larger venue!