On the first Tuesday of
every month, Odd Bar in the Northern Quarter is home to a free comedy night.
Taking up the top floor of the bar, Quippopotamus
has been running for the past eight months, successfully expanding from nights
they also run at Fuel Café in Withington. In that time, it’s become a platform
for some of Manchester’s more out-there comedians.
Compèred by joint organiser
Jack Evans, this month’s offering started well. It was refreshing to see Evans’
ability to bypass the getting-to-know-you awkwardness that stagnates some
comedy events elsewhere; this one felt lively, casual, enjoyable and,
importantly, genuinely funny. Evans worked the crowd with aplomb and his
off-the-cuff humour was impressively sharp. When he and his fellow organiser
Jon Whiteley played a more rehearsed half-time sketch it showed great
versatility. Crucially, the pair knows what people want from an alternative
comedy night, and they showed it by booking two great acts.
The first, Edy Hurst, was
kind of a character-comedy bit. His enthusiastic and childlike humour won the
crowd over when he picked up a guitar to give parody renditions of any James
Bond song at the audience’s request.
The main act, Phil Ellis,
took to the stage with a world-weary demeanour and a tragic likability that the crowd instantly enjoyed. His set seemed
to be mostly unplanned mischief that the audience lapped-up. His time on the stage
segued from cleverly told life stories to impromptu furniture interaction, and
finished with an attempt to casually assimilate the comedic spirit of Rik
Mayall as he was encouraged to digest a newspaper clipping of the recently
deceased’s face. It could have seemed daft or contrived, but with Ellis’s
inclusive demeanour, it became a raucous social event.
Quippopotamus works really
well in its essence – a free night to celebrate alternative comedy. It’s good
to see it done with a light-hearted and non-commercial approach, and a real
spirit to make people laugh. Whiteley and Evans clearly love making people
laugh and the night is well worth checking out.
Words &
photo: Mark Hattersley
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