Michael McIntyre at the Chesham Comedy Festival Elgiva Theatre, Chesham, 31 May 2007
| Chesham Comedy Festival | Elgiva Theatre, Chesham May 30 2007 7:30pm
Short & Curly: Sandi Toksvig & Bonnie Langford May 31 2007 7:30pm
Jo Caulfield May 31 2007 9:00pm
Michael McIntyre Jun 1 2007 7:30pm
Count Arthur Strong – the Musical? Jun 1 2007 9:00pm
Many ways to play your lover: Rebecca Carrington Jun 2 2007 7:30pm
Trippplicate Jun 2 2007 9:00pm
Rainer Hersch: all classical music explained Jun 3 2007 2:30pm
Kit & The Widow Box Office: 01494 582900 |
Driving to Chesham’s Comedy Festival was a highlight in itself as you really felt like you had entered an episode of Midsummer Murders or The Vicar of Dibley. Churches with signs like “Village Fair this weekend” in front of them and the woods surrounding the entrance in and out of the town made you feel like you were in another place, like Narnia! It wasn’t until I sat down in the venue and started reading the programme that I discovered that the area is where they film Midsummer Murders and the Vicar of Dibley. Lucky guess? Anyway, luckily I didn’t have time to contemplate my film location thought coincidence in great detail because on walked the comedy act we came to see, Michael McIntyre. Rant Dressed like Bill Hicks and sounding like a cross between Dom Joly and Graham Norton he began his act talking about the dodgy traffic he faced coming to the gig. This started a long rant about traffic updates you can’t switch off on your radio to weather phrases that no-one should be using in their lives. He even made fun of people who phone into radio shows to update the traffic situation - “It’s too late for me, save yourselves!” was the general gist! And as he worked his way through describing the strange behaviours of the human body, from laugh snorts and snot sneezes to burp sick, it was hilarious. All very surreal at times, but always with a touch of sheer genius that made you laugh continuously. What made his routine brilliant was the fact that everything he mentioned felt familiar so you laughed half out of recognition and half at how funny it was. However, it took ten minutes before he really started involving the crowd and that’s where the night became solid gold. Anyone who was there will never forget the “geezers” that turned up and tried to outdo McIntyre. Big mistake! The legendary figures of Trevor, Ted, Ian and Craig were ridiculed from start to finish and yet somehow you couldn’t help but like McIntyre as it all sounded so very middle class and polite. Clever segways Every comment from the crowd was worked into his routine in one way or another. I started getting lost in his clever segways. People with mango in their yoghurt to a free paper that now costs 50p, onto a lame geezery joke about Mike Hunt and then his own material about pins and needles, the only two words his baby can say, the lack of watch wearers these days and back again to the dodgy weather. It all felt familiar and was clearly material that McIntyre found as funny as the audience. I laughed like a drain throughout. There was even an impromptu encore about his possible infertility that showed he can literally make anything funny as his quest for the hospital’s “w*nk room” took a turn for the worst. And when he explained that instead of spending £13 a month on pregnancy tests for over a year, he could have had broadband, there were howls of recognition from the crowd! The audience were a mixture of young and old and his close to the bone, but never smutty, humour went down a storm. It’s no surprise he is already being tipped for greatness because I saw a real Lee Evans type brilliance in the making and cannot wait to tell my Mike McIntyre story when he becomes a massive star of Ricky Gervais or Peter Kay proportions! This was top-notch slick comedy and it all took place in a small market town in Bucks - congratulations Chesham Comedy Festival! | 
