Quippodrome @ Gullivers, 09.5.16

One doesn't really know what to expect from a night labelled Quippodrome. The website, scarce and intriguing, offers little explanation. A video plays in the centre of the website of past Quippodrome evenings and I'm immediately thinking of early Mighty Boosh. Homemade costumes, silly looking characters, exaggerated acting.

From the offset, the evening was welcoming. Compares Jack Evans, and Edy Hurst invite the audience to feel relaxed, and assure us that the evening is probably going to fail. But when it fails, it also works. The performers, clearly well versed in comedy, quickly manage to pick themselves up, find a response, and even on this occasion, lecture about Kangaroos killing Dingoes; all to bemused laughter. It's a journey for both the audience and the performers and not your regular comedy night. 

The evening continues with Chris Cantrill who has established himself around the UK as a comedian with a penchant to see the funny side in life's (sur)real stories. His set changes the pace a little, but the laughs keep coming.

After a short interval, we're welcomed back for the main event, The Quippodrome. The four players, Jack, Edy, Jayne and Jon perform a variety of characters and vignettes, worthy of early Channel Four (or when Channel Four was good|). It even kicks off with a very Adam & Joe-esque title card and Evans’ Detective Inspector Horse-hand, who wouldn't look out of place on Vic Reeves Big Night Out. D.I. Horse-hand (a Holyrood experiment if you were wondering) spins his surreal yarn about a whole menagerie of weird equine-hybrid Scots people, and the audience loves it.

The melee of other characters who appear on stage in unique, original acts continue. Dr. Love (yes, we've all heard of him, but we've never actually met him!) gives us some tips on the best sex positions, all with brilliantly graphic drawings.

"It's ok, the perspective may be skewed, but she has breasts, so…"

The segue between the Crane Position and the Fraser Crane Position drew the biggest laughs. We're literally taken on a rollercoaster in the next act with a great use of a web-cam, a stick, and a couple of straws. This part of the show seemed like a metaphor for the whole evening, with its twists and turns, the ups, and the downs, and, of course, the failures (I'd suggest gaffer taping the extension lead!).

The evening is drawn to a close with a wonderful character from the comedic brain of Jayne Edwards. After all the high testosterone, it's a welcoming relief to see Jayne, and her ‘pube art’ will stick in my mind like... well, like a pube sticks in your teeth. Confidently Jayne’s character informs us of how to make it in the porn industry when she was directing. A surreal little story that wonderfully re-introduces the rest of the characters back on stage.

Overall, I've not seen anything like this before. These guys have worked the circuit, and got bored with the scene. They may be doing this for the love of comedy, and I hope they are, because that rawness and passion, and the laughs they gave the whole audience was worth way more than the door price. So much so, I'm going back next month.

Words: Colm Feeley

The Invisible Dot Cabaret @ MIF, 09.07.15

The Invisible Dot have been tasked with bringing comedy to MIF for the first time, and while it may be moaned about that they have predominantly invited acts who’re based outside of Manchester, they have served up a winning piece of late night entertainment. The line-ups will change throughout the cabaret’s run, but if they keep up this high calibre, you're guaranteed some late night laughs. In true cabaret style, they present us with a variety of comedic forms and the mix works well.

Neurosis seemed to be the theme of the night as compère for the evening Mae Martin shared jokes about worried mothers and the emotional anguish brought on by Brian Cox. A Canadian, Martin had good fun with English accents, but needs to worry less about whether we have seen things over here. Relaxed and playful, she kept the evening ticking over nicely.

Phil Ellis (the only local on the bill) always thrives off the audience, his energetic performance dragging us helplessly along in his wake. He's easily distracted by new ideas and, although a veer towards darker material at the end of his set threatens to derail the audience's goodwill, Ellis makes for a great opener.

Natasha Demetriou and Ellie White followed as the Sexy Dangerous American Girl Cousins. There were some lovely lines and it's a very physical performance, but ultimately the characters came off a little one-note for me, and the intentionally “so bad it's good” finale didn't quite land.

The night was rounded off by Sheeps, a sketch trio who play with and deconstruct the sketch form in smart, but rarely too-clever-for-their-own-good ways. It took them a moment to kick into gear, but soon had the audience following them with every twist and turn. Sketch topics veered from a preview of their new musical based on Oliver Twist (“We've spotted a gap in the market”) to a violent ruckus between Chuckle Brothers via cat-based whimsy. A great way to close the night.

The 90-minute show flew by without an interval and proved to be a great night in all, but, although the Invisible Dot has a roster of excellent comedians, perhaps next year we can show off more home-grown talent instead of relegating it to the fringes. Hopefully next year the comedy offering will grow and we will see even greater and braver variety.

Words: Sean Mason

The Invisible Dot continues each night until 17 July. For more info and tickets, visit its MIF web page.

The Picture Of Doreen Gray @ Oldham Coliseum, 21.10.14

The Picture of Doreen Grey is a wilfully jumbled tale of a media personality who has, by the harsh standards of celebrity, passed her sell-by date. Fortunately for her she stumbles across a self-portrait she made while at school, which has been brought to life by some sort of supernatural occurrence. Trading places with her younger self kickstarts her career...but at what cost?

This is my first experience of LipService Theatre, a production company made up of writer-performer pairing Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding. They've been working together since 1985, and this show is one in a series inspired by famous books (past productions include Very Little Women and Withering Looks). Much of the writing pokes fun at young people and the modern world, with reference points - twitter, facebook, pop music - that are not terribly original. This would be problematic if LipService's aim was to make groundbreaking comedy or cutting social satire, but since they aren't it isn't. Instead, they've made a silly and accessible Radio Four-style comic romp that the audience at the Coliseum absolutely adored. Highlights included a choreographed office chair chase, some old-fashioned show tunes with titles like 'No One Loves a Fairy Over Fifty,' and a very funny skit in which Fox and Ryding recreate famous paintings using some decidedly dodgy props.

While by no means a political piece the show did have a message of sorts: getting old, gracefully or otherwise, is no crime. The Picture of Doreen Grey doesn't take itself seriously, even for a second, and if you're a fan of Radio Four comedy this is probably the perfect night out for you.

Words: Andrew Anderson

Image: Courtesy of LipService Theatre

Quippopotamus @ Odd Bar, 03.06.14

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

Quippopotamus is staged at Odd Bar on the first Tuesday of every month and at Fuel Café Bar on the fourth Sunday of every month.

Hulme and Rights @ Work for Change Co-op, 31.05.14

Playing to a packed audience in the small but strangely cavernous space that is The Yard at Birley Street in Hulme, Daniel Kitson, Josie Long and Molly Naylor came together for the Hulme and Rights fundraising gig in aid of Freedom for Torture, a cause which clearly doesn’t merit any humour but whose important work gained wider prominence among a hugely enthusiastic, ‘up for it’ audience.

For fans of wryly observed narrative humour on the minutiae of everyday life, Kitson, Long and Naylor have clearly honed their comedic craft to perfection with each of them providing whimsical, sometimes anarchic and hugely self-deprecating observations on the trials of modern life.

Daniel got the evening off to a great start in his role as compère and warm-up merchant for Josie Long. He explored a mix of narratives, including his paranoiac outsider observations from taking a solitary trip to a campsite in North Wales the day before the gig and making boastful reminders of his globetrotting exploits as a comic (“Did I tell you I was in New York?”), ricocheting mercilessly off his heckling audience to fuel his ironically immodest fire of self-importance. Effortless and genius.

Josie Long, meanwhile, provided a quaintly acerbic counterfoil to Kitson’s humour with some touching and profound observations on personal relationships. I always get anxious when comics – or any performer for that matter – seek audience participation, but I found myself charmed by Josie’s entreaties to join her in her fatalistic, guitar-accompanied elegy to disappointment and heartbreak. It was funny and touching in equal measure.

Finally, Molly Naylor had me in stitches with her all-too-honest and self-knowing observations, amongst other confessional narratives of her failed attempt to get to the right airport for a flight to Berlin for a gig. All based on the heroic wrong assumption. I loved the way she conveyed that self-righteous ‘London’ sense of knowing her stuff and her insistence of being right, even at the checking in desk, when clearly arriving at Stansted for a flight taking off from Southend was wrong, wrong, wrong. Hilarious.

Laughs all-round from a trio of comics whose narrative craft deserved the energy and adulation from a crowd who believed in them as much as the cause they were supporting.

Thanks also to Laura Harper, a volunteer, who talked about the work for Freedom From Torture and to the artists who donated their work for the fundraising raffle.

Words & photos: Tom Warman

Bo Burnham: What @ The Dancehouse, 12.11.13

When Bo Burnham was first uploaded into our consciousness as a teenage YouTube comedic sensation way back in 2006, you could be forgiven for assuming that what you were looking at was a flash in the pan.

But that was seven years ago and Burnham, now the ripe old age of 22, has undoubtedly fulfilled every inch of the potential displayed in those gawky early videos and matured into the outstanding comedy writer and performer we see before us today.

What is Burnham's second fully realised show – following on from 2010's immensely successful Words, Words, Words – and debuted to widespread critical acclaim at this year's Edinburgh Fringe before being taken out on the road for an eleven-date UK run, stopping off in Manchester at The Dancehouse for the first of two performances in five days.

Presented as a mixture of musical comedy, stand-up, poetry and even the odd bit of dance, the show is an hilariously intriguing examination of comedy itself from an incredibly intelligent and perceptive young student of the art form with a strong inclination to surprise and subvert, gaining extra marks for showing his working along the way.

The key theme which runs throughout is the notion that ‘Art is a lie, nothing is real’, and Burnham litters the hour-long show with various examples of this, such as seemingly spontaneous errors which turn out be part of the choreography after all. On several occasions he makes a point of highlighting the awkward dip in the show's momentum while he has to travel between his keyboard and the centre stage microphone.

Like all of Burnham's material to date, the tone fluctuates between astoundingly articulate wordplay – a one-liner about the Kenyan marathon team's doctor whose “patients was running thin” garnered one of the bigger laughs of the night – and what might be perceived as juvenile humour or political incorrectness – songs about paedophile frogs or a poem called ‘I Fuck Sluts’, for example. Burnham barely breaks character all evening and his stage persona is a trademark portrayal of extreme arrogance laced with enough self-awareness and self-deprecation to provide comedic balance.

It's easy to forget when watching Burnham perform that it wasn't very long ago he was making YouTube videos from his bedroom in Massachusetts, nor that he is still a very young man in a traditionally older man's game. He is a unique specimen in that the generation to whom he appeals the most have never before watched a prodigious comedian mature before their very eyes in this way. Although many predicted he would fade into obscurity along with the sneezing baby panda and that 'Chocolate Rain' guy, Burnham has comfortably confounded expectation and will surely only get better with age.

Words: Dan Burke

All Our Friends Are Dead @ 3MT, 27.07.13

There’s nothing funny about happiness: it’s just annoying. Sorrow, sadness and suffering, however, are side-splitting, so comedy couple Norris and Parker’s Edinburgh preview of All Our Friends Are Dead sounded promising. Having already performed a show called Comedy Wake they had form on their side, and with a set of promotional posters designed to cause goth boys to wet themselves with more than just wee it almost felt like a dead cert.

As with their other shows, All Our Friends Are Dead is loosely based around making the show itself. Opening with a delightful number about the joys of being a twat that set the tone for the rest of the evening (lots of music, lots of them being twats), they then romped through an hour’s worth of material covering murder with a tin opener, the art of improvisation and ills of society at large.

Sketches also broke down the 4th wall, with Norris and Parker regularly chiding their long-suffering manager Amanda Clapham (who appears on stage with them) about her lack of acting ability, her poor planning for their upcoming Edinburgh shows and her choice of clothing (described as “peasant whore”). This cruelty is part of their persona – few of their characters come across as likeable, and they opt instead to play people trapped in relationships that are mutually malefic.

The strongest asset that Norris and Parker have is the naturalness of their performance: it doesn’t seem like a performance at all (that could be an insult, but in this case it isn’t). That said, an area where they could do with improving is in their stage-craft itself, as some jokes were spoken over the audience’s laughter. A couple of sketches were recycled from their last show and, while still funny, the new material has taken a step forward, and so these older bits are now not quite as sharp. But these are minor quibbles about a very funny performance, and I’m sure they’ll do well in Edinburgh. All of their friends might be dead, but with material like this Norris & Parker should have no problem making new ones.

Words: Andrew Anderson.
Photography: Sam Edge.

Interview: The Tourists meet ComedySportz

Comedy is an untameable beast. Who knows when it’ll strike? It is a meta-morphing, metaphorical animal whose teeth may be sharp and succinct, blunt and brutal, polished and clean or all of the above.

It is a chat about these various forms of comedy (without so much nonsensical metaphor) that recently brought The Tourists and ComedySportz together over an audio recording device for Now Then Manchester. With a combined personnel in double figures an all-inclusive scene would be a little too crowded, so it fell to The Tourists’ Kate McCabe and ComedySportz’s Sean Mason to represent their respective groups.

Without being too divisive, there are key distinctions between their chosen disciplines. On the face of it, Kate should favour sketch and Sean should favour improv, but both can see the benefits of the other’s field.



So, sketch or improv?

“That’s so difficult!” agonises Kate. “Every time I think about eliminating something from my schedule, I think: I would really miss that. The easy answer is that there are aspects of both that are rewarding. Improv is infinitely useful just as an exercise in itself but also in sketch writing, so improv might actually edge out sketch, but sketch benefits from good improv, so there you go.”

“I love improv,” adds Sean, “but one thing I love and hate equally about improv is that once you’ve done something you don’t necessarily ever see or hear of that thing again.”

Kate agrees: “That is definitely the advantage of sketch. We did a really short run in Edinburgh this past year and it really was fun for the two and a half weeks to be able to celebrate the material we created time and time again and with improv the magic is in the moment and then it’s gone.”

Kate has been with The Tourists in its various incarnations for roughly four years and is a valued member of the group – not least for the differentiation she brings as the only American: “I’m often left to play policeladies and idiots!”

But in general she doesn’t think there is a lot to distinguish British and American humour: “It’s mostly about what the influences are because I do think the question of British versus American humour is over-analysed – I think we laugh at quite a lot of the same stuff but that our influences are much more varied. The British are inspired more by groups like Monty Python whereas in America it’s all about Saturday Night Live.”



While sketch shows from The Fast Show to Big Train are commonplace on the television and as such are a familiar set-up to most audiences, the diversity of group improv is less frequently displayed so its variations often need an introduction. Even within the ComedySportz template there are broadly two types of show. Sean initially distinguishes these as “our family-friendly show [where] ‘family-friendly’ just means we don’t swear” and “our non-family-friendly show which is all about swearing and jokes,” but both require elaboration.

He continues, “the short form is sketches, essentially, that we are just making up that go on for two or three minutes, whereas long form can be circular, it can be one character for the entire hour-long show.”



The shorter format is more games oriented, games which ComedySportz aim to differentiate from those of other improv specialists. “When we do short form it’s kind of more game based,” Sean explains. “Whose Line is it Anyway? is our [point of] recognition. For everyone who doesn’t quite understand what improv is or what it can be, you say Whose Line... and everyone goes ‘oh right, yes’.”

“But that’s the problem I have with TV improv at the moment; people going ‘oh, well it’s not Whose Line... or it’s trying to be Whose Line..., so why don’t they just call it Whose Line...’ and there’s lots of reasons why we can’t do that. But we try to be different; every improv troupe will play a variation on similar games.”

Sean admits to a constant inner turmoil with the throwaway nature of improv but with a longer format during some shows they can at least develop ideas a little more, even if it still won’t be repeated in the same way again. “All the time we think argh we really wish we could do that again. And it is mostly in the long form one when [an idea] breathes a little bit more.”

Improv is something with which live comedy sketch groups undeniably benefit from being comfortable and which Kate believes the third main act on the Now Then Sunday Soirée bill, Him & Me, have mastered: “their bantering with the audience is at a really high level for somebody who normally does sketch.”
It’s a skill The Tourists strive for as well. Rohan (Shenoy, of The Tourists), who joins the conversation late, adds that an increase in ad lib fill ins is “something we’re looking to do a lot more of ourselves. A lot of us are from a lot more of a theatre-y background.”

Their sketches are a diverse smorgasbord of the satirical to the surreal, as Kate describes: “we all write very differently. I write sketches that are very parody and satire based. And then there’s members of the group like Tony who writes very surreal sketches; Maggie writes very situational based comedy and then Rohan is kind of the odd ball out – what he writes is a mixture of them all.”

Edinburgh review website Three Weeks concurs that they "take on a wide range of characters from the hapless robot File-Tron to the menacing Maria, the nun," so if nothing else their show promises to be quite a mix.

Words: Ian Pennington
Images: Courtesy of the groups depicted
Poster design: Hattie Lockwood

The Tourists and ComedySportz will both perform at Dulcimer in Chorlton on Sunday 26th February. The show has an early evening start time of 5pm and they’ll be joined by fellow local acts Him & Me (sketch) and Greg O’Toole (stand up).

Preview: Mid Winter Lass Fest 2012

The Lass O'Gowrie on Charles Street (just off Oxford Road) is one of the finest pubs in the city (if not the finest). It serves fine food, excellent beer and there is comic book artwork on the walls. It mixes retro nostalgia and traditional boozer vibes to create something unique that offers something for everyone.

This ethos runs through their often varied and exciting entertainments. Currently ongoing is their Mid Winter Lass Fest that runs until the end of January. There is theatre, comedy, retro gaming, live music and beer tasting with Men Behaving Badly star and home brewer Neil Morrissey.

Theatre-wise things kick off with a sci-fi theme with an adaptation of Alan Moore's feminist space opera Halo Jones and for Doctor Who fans (or indeed fans of intensely scripted and stunningly performed live action terror) Russell T Davies' Midnight using the original script and approved by the author.

Mid January sees the start of a mini Jack Rosenthal season featuring some of his classic Coronation Street scripts (some performed in the bar) and his long lost Play For Today Hot Fat, a fable that still resonates today and has an excellent cast*.

*Okay, full disclosure, I'm in that one.

Towards the end of the month there is a smorgasbord of theatrical premieres: Conor McPherson's The Weir, Rebekkah Harrison's We Took That and Partied and Thinking Out Loud as well as Carly Tarret's one woman show Sinful. Also, for two nights only the return of Brian Gorman's one man bio-play of Patrick Magoohan's life, Everyman, told as if an episode of cult TV classic The Prisoner.

Other highlights include Let's See What Happens, improvised comedy from ComedySportz, Manchester's premier improv troupe, character comedy from the ever charming Danny Pensive and Chap Hop from that most excellent of fellows Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer.

Also, did I mention the beer tasting? The retro gaming? The live stand up and sketch shows from some of Manchester's finest comedians? Not to mention all of the other events too numerous to, err, mention?

Tickets are available on the door or via WeGotTickes by searching for the Lass O' Gowrie or following the links over at their website. NB: capacity is limited and so are the tickets. Don't miss out.

Something evident in the Lass O' Gowrie is the love and dedication put into these events by its managers Gareth Kavanagh and Lisa Connor. They work tirelessly to pull everything together and provide a space for performers of all varieties of entertainment.

There is a growing fringe theatre scene and the Lass O' Gowrie is one of its most important venues, providing a stage for new writing as well as in house productions and revivals of classic scripts. 2012 is going to be a big year for them and they've started it in style.

Words: Sean Mason