Tag Archives: Toussaint Douglass

Review – Screaming Blue Murder, Underground at the Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 25th October 2025

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It’s so great to see Screaming Blue Murder back in rude health in the Underground where it belongs. Sold out too – always rewarding when the start is slightly delayed by staff having to bring in extra chairs. Our genial host Dan Evans was on tippety-top form as he negotiated the slings and arrows of twins Laura and Henry’s joint 40th birthday party outing, with a considerable number of the audience vocally in support of the uninhibited pair. If that wasn’t enough, another lady on the front row said she had a dream about Dan the night before and – let’s just say – he had proved himself to be all man. Well. If that isn’t sexual harassment in the workplace, I don’t know what is. Dan spent most of the show avoiding her gaze or quietly smug about his sexual expertise.

Our first act, new to Northampton but not to us, was Abigoliah Schamaun, someone we’ve seen many times at the Edinburgh Fringe and who always brings a gutsy kick up any proceedings. Ohio’s loss is London’s gain, as Abigoliah gave us her impressions on how an American survives in the UK, including our (apparent) obsession with butter in a sandwich – I mean, it’s what butter was made for, honestly – how sexy an English accent is, and how to deal with fellow Americans on a long train journey. Her comedy is intelligent, relatable, and delightfully teasing. A fantastic start to the evening.

Next up was Toussaint Douglass, who had a great Edinburgh Fringe this year with his Accessible Pigeon Material; successful no doubt because he tried it out at Northampton’s Comedy Crate earlier this summer. No pigeon on Saturday night, just his incredibly funny and recognisable content about being in a relationship for eight years, having an 87-year-old flatmate (his Grandma) and the reasons for his personal ambition to die alone. He has a marvellously disarming style; very engaging and confiding, almost physically cosying up to the audience to get across his comic gems. His beautifully delivered final jokes, about how his bedroom activity can be likened to a football manager, provided the best laughs of the night.

Our headliner was Tony Law, someone who you either “get” or you don’t, and in the past I’ve found that I usually don’t get his surreal and otherworldly humour. But on this occasion, he knocked it out of the park. Brilliant use of props for completely throwaway purposes, and a hilarious use of accents, including a damn fine stab at the bizarre Northampton accent which is like a cross between Cockney and Brummie. His rapport with the audience was exceptional, and we were laughing about his act all the way home.

That was the last Screaming Blue for 2025 but there are already four gigs in 2026 on sale. Can’t wait!

Review – Screaming Blue Murder, Underground at the Derngate, Northampton, 26th February 2022

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Time for another Screaming Blue Murder – you know the traditional event: hosted by the wonderful Dan Evans, with three delightful acts and two marvellous intervals, an up-for-it boisterous full house of an audience, loads of laughs and, all being well, everyone out by 10:30 to get on with the rest of their weekend. In fact, it’s such a predictable entertainment that you could almost set your clock by it. Everything runs to plan, no one stays sober, everyone goes home happy.

But is the course of true comedy always that predictable? Not so on Saturday night. It all started well. Dan bounded on with his usual energy (having bigged himself up on the microphone before it started) and spent the usual twenty minutes or so getting to know the audience. We encountered young Daniel, 18 – the most amiable skinhead you could ever meet – and his girlfriend Izzy, 17 (their ages are relevant, trust me); five cats-owning Health and Safety manager Jenna with her ghastly tale of someone who fell in a shredder; the aggregate lorry driver and the long-partnered couples who sat apart. All jolly stuff going nicely to plan.

Two of the three acts were new to us; the other we saw quite recently. First up was Rachel Fairburn, new to us, with a likeable personality and a sister she hates; she’s not sure how, but apparently her Manchester accent is sexy (and, on the whole, I wouldn’t disagree). She has some telling and well thought-out material about OCD, and how it isn’t just a matter of liking things neat and tidy. Her set was going well and we were all laughing a lot when she introduced her next subject – serial killers.

She was just about to mine some comedy material out of the appalling Jeffrey Dahmer, when a young man in the audience became unwell – seriously so. Everything stopped; people were concerned. Rachel actually went to get him a glass of water, but it soon became clear this wasn’t going to resolve itself quickly. Mr Sound Man announced an early interval, and we all went outside in stunned silence for a drink whilst the paramedics attended to the poor chap. Ms Fairburn never got to finish her story or her set, and wasn’t seen again. We were immensely impressed with the way the staff handled the incident, and the speed with which the young chap was taken to hospital. Hopefully, all’s well that ends well. The unpredictability of a comedy night.

But the show must go on, and our second act was the excellent Toussaint Douglass whom we had seen last year at a Comedy Crate gig. He has a very warm personality, and some terrific material about having a middle class girlfriend, and the pros and cons of being in a mixed-race relationship. He has a great stage presence and delivers his excellent material with confidence and authority. He was able to turn the gig around back to being a good night out and not an oh dear I hope that guy is ok night.

Our headline act, and someone else we hadn’t seen before, was Tom Ward, a guy with a thatch of impossible hair that he insists isn’t a wig, an innocent-looking selection of backing music tracks to his side and an incredibly mischievous personality to boot. Put the three together and you have a wonderfully anarchic half-hour. He poked fun mercilessly at Daniel for being a nonce (Daniel took it like a man), then later questioned the guy at the back why his girlfriend wasn’t with him. Dissatisfied with the answer, Mr W got his phone off him and rang her up for us all to listen to her reasoning. Result, it’s not looking good for the relationship. He ended with a brilliant version of Cher’s Believe that has to be seen and heard to be… well… believed.

What could have ended in an uncomfortable night for everyone ended in hilarity, thank Goodness. I felt sorry for Rachel Fairburn ending her set by not ending it, if you see what I mean. But at least we think the audience member was ok. Let’s hope so. Next Screaming Blue is on 12th March and is already sold out. See you there!

Review – The Comedy Crate at the Black Prince Pub, Northampton, 15th July 2021

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Those lovely comedy lovers at the Comedy Crate had already resumed residence in the back garden of the Black Prince a few weeks ago, but this was the first show that we’d been able to catch – and my first non-Zoom comedy gig since their show last October. Such are the ways of the pandemic. The line-up had unavoidably changed a bit between being first announced and the show on the night, but that’s often the way with live gigs!

Our MC for the night was Jenny Collier, whom we last saw on one of the Comedy Crate’s online gigs earlier this year. She’s a sparky presence, with her charming appearance and cut-glass accent acting as a great juxtaposition to some ribald language. She’s been working as a GP receptionist for some of these Covid times, which was a source of some excellent material. However, I most enjoyed her account of giving a – I can’t dress this up in any other way – stool sample for the medics to explore. We were an occasionally unruly crowd, so she had a lot on her plate for the evening, but she was great fun and kept the show going at a great pace.

Our first act, and one of my all-time favourite comedians, was Olaf Falafel, whom we’ve seen many times in Edinburgh. In his trademark stripy blue sailor’s shirt, which makes him look like an extra from There is Nothing Like a Dame, he attacked us with some brilliant material, playing off the crowd beautifully, and ending up with his famous biscuitology routine. His comedy is a wonderful mixture of the absurd and the childish, but with lots of devastatingly clever observations and woefully funny puns. Great to see him again.

Next up, and new to us, was Toussaint Douglass; a naturally funny guy with a very relaxed style but with some strong punchy material full of surprises, including some challenging stuff about race. A very likeable personality, with some nice self-deprecating observations, he struck up an excellent rapport with the audience. Very enjoyable, and someone to look forward to seeing again!

For our headline act we had the rather wacky and unpredictable Tony Law, whom we’ve seen a few times before and sometimes he goes down a storm, and sometimes he doesn’t! I very much liked his use of accents in his act, and he’s supremely confident with dealing with the crowd; you either “get” his flights of fancy or you don’t and, personally, on the whole, I don’t! But the majority of the audience did, so I admit it’s my problem not his!

There’s another Comedy Crate in the garden of the Black Prince on Thursday 19th August. We’re going, are you?