Morecambe Comedy Festival

I've just been to my first night of the Morecambe Comedy Festival, and it was great :)

I arrived late, so missed some of Ruth Cockburn's routine, but it was obvious in the half-hour I saw that she is a special talent. It's hard to come up with a single good song and put that into a routine seamlessly, but she sang many original numbers, and managed to weave them into spots of 'pure' observational stand-up, as well as other multimedia elements (including recorded interview material, which was quite touching, as well as amusing), which all combined to make a thoughtful and refreshing take on love and sense of place.

After a short break, we were supposed to enjoy Brennan Reece, but, filling in for the aforementioned double-bookee, was festival organiser and all-round nice guy Matt Panesh. I've never heard Matt perform before, so I was actually considering myself lucky in the situation. He mostly read out from a book of his poetry (if I find out what book that was, and where I - indeed, 'we' - can get our hands on a copy, I'll let you know), and the mix of humourous, political and social observations within his work fitted in well with the evening's entertainment. He's lived quite a life, and I really was rapt as he relayed tales of times on tour, or while working (indeed, being fired from work). Although not what I'd consider as an out-and-out comedy show, there were some unintentionally (no, they were intentional, but they were unplanned) hilarious moments, courtesy of a couple of arseholed pub punters who decided to spraff loudly about lord-knows-what and chip in with random corrections/affirmations, all of which were ad hocly batted back by Matt (charitably so, I might add), which pleased the audience no end.

Another break. Another pint. Another comedian - none other than Tom Little.

The first thing that struck me about him was his fantastic energy. It's really high-frequency, but he's so warm and charming, that you never feel attacked by his performance. In fact, there were many moments of audience participation that genuinely felt cherished by both audience and orator. I liked Tom intensely, and I really don't want to be over-wordy about why. He was self-deprecatory, a bit meta, decently cheesy, great at being funny off-script and hard-working in his writing (and memory! The things he's researched and memorised, you know, they're more than just trite set-pieces in an overall comedic game) - that's why I loved it. All those ingredients show a natural, yet industrious, talent, and I hope he gets to wherever he wants to be. I certainly prefer him to all of those terribly middle-class comedian clones... I was going to name names, but I just had a premonition of that coming back to haunt me, so I won't.

Anyways, I'll let you get back to whatever it is you were doing before clicking on this link. I know I didn't go into a lot of detail back there, but I don't want to spoil anyone's Fringe by revealing jokes ahead of time. In that sense, I feel honoured to be able to not just look through the window into a creative process, but be inside the house as it's happening and, if laughter be the comedic writer's barometer, maybe even be part of that process in some small way. In that sense, it is much like going to a poetry reading - an honour (not necessarily a solemn one), and I thank the performers, organisers and everything that led to the moment, for a great time.

Hope to see you at more of the week's events (click on the link up top for all the news and performers). Peace, love and light.