The
Y Theatre was pleasingly packed for
Bottle Rocket Comedy Club's second line-up this month. Clearly their ploy of offering a number two-for-one tickets worked well, as the extra bodies provided a wealth of atmosphere that the previous night had been sometimes lacking.
Even so, compere
Fergus Craig's audience banter fell a little flat to begin with, but to be fair he wasn't exactly given gold dust to work with. He justifiably mocked Leicester's comedy-goers as not being exactly rock'n'roll, after talking to an IT guy and an accountant. Craig was, despite the slow start, an entertaining host for the evening, more so when he was doing his own material - he is particularly skilled in his use of accents and made the most of this, combining German words with Glaswegian diction to produce the scariest sounding accent ever. Another high point was his incredibly showy, hip-hop entrance after the interval, which he followed up with some gentle mockery of Flavor Flav's autobiography, which was warmly received.
The first act,
Vikki Stone, delighted the audience with her bawdy songs, over-expressionate features and musical theatre-style voice. Whilst her largely relationship- and sex-based subject matter was pretty lowest common denominator, it was presented in a very likeable way and despite some very clever lines, the biggest laughs were inevitably produced by the dirtier material. Songs such as "I Need a Dildo" and an epic yet filthy ode to Phillip Schofield drew big applause, but my own personal favourite was her final song, which primarily consisted of her singing the theme tune to Jurassic Park over and over again in tribute to a former lover. Doesn't sound that funny in writing but the sheer randomness of it certainly tickled me...
Next up was rising local star
Chris Stokes. His vulnerable, geekish persona combined with a very relaxed style and understated, often deadpan delivery went down a storm with the crowd. His style is becoming ever more natural and less deliberately slow (a-la-Stewart Lee), and his appeal seems to be growing as a result. His material was accessible and anecdotal, but it's that understated, slightly apologetic delivery which adds extra comic weight to often quite simple jokes. Fresh from winning Best Show at February's Comedy Festival, this is one act which seems clearly destined for bigger things. Good luck, sonny boy...
Headlining the evening was larger-than-life kiwi
Jarred Christmas. With the audience nicely warmed up, his mix of brash yet tongue-in-cheek self-confidence, skewed observations and local references provided a suitably bombastic finish to the evening. Christmas is loud and likeable, cheeky and clever, and is able to ad-lib with the audience or on his own with great aplomb. His quick-witted interactions with the crowd left one wishing perhaps that he had been the compere and Fergus Craig had been one of the acts. In fact, as if to reinforce this perception, Fergus had actually left the building by the end of the show, leaving Jarred to wrap the show up in his usual excitable style.
And if you're at all curious to know what comedy's headline performers like to do after a show in Leicester, we caught Jarred and Chris legging it out of the Y to go and catch the late showing of Avengers Assemble at the Showcase. So now you know.
