A fun evening of stand-up, featuring three acts and headlined by Alan Davies.
Filing into the Big Top at the Fringe by the Sea festival in North Berwick, it was soon quite clear that the demographic for this show was a good thirty years older than me, and probably primarily men – so I was intrigued to see how the material would hold up for me, a 23-year-old woman. And for the most part, I wasn’t disappointed.
The show was compered by Jay Lafferty, a comedian from Greenock but now living in Edinburgh. Her set included talk about the menopause and the difference between Greenock and Edinburgh, and at first I didn’t find her funny – In fact the screens either side of the stage had (what appeared to be) AI generated captions, and I was quite entertained by these misinterpreting what she said. However as she came on the second time I felt her material was better, and I felt the audience warmed to her throughout the night.
Gareth War was the first act on stage. His first line immediately had the audience, and from then he did a good set. He told stories of his most embarrassing moments, including in a massage parlour and during an early date with his now wife, and had the audience laughing throughout.
Chris Forbes was the second comedian on the bill, and he too did a very funny set. A brilliant impersonation of his dog, and impressions of his wife were featured, and the classic ‘how he met his wife’. Two running themes of the night seemed to be their wives and their sex lives, which must be favourite topics for male comedians. It was funny but perhaps they could have thought outside the box a little more.
The final act was of course Alan Davies, well known for QI and Jonathan Creek amongst many other things. He was, as expected, the best of the three. A particular routine about the idea of giving guns to teachers was hilarious, and it was a real treat to see him live. It was largely about middle-aged man problems which obviously aren’t relatable for me, but I found it amusing regardless. His jokes land with pretty much everyone, because he is just naturally funny.
The comedy club had two intervals between the three acts, which may not have been needed for some as the show was only 1.5hrs long, but personally I found the plastic folding chairs uncomfortable and my 23-year-old back was glad of the breaks.
The audience laughed easily and freely throughout the whole night and I had a great time – it was a real treat to see Alan Davies and I just wished he’d been on for longer.