It was that time of the month again- yes, The Comedy Store hit Warrington for its October dose of funny on Saturday night and the comedians had a real challenge on their hands at this show.
The Comedy Store
MC Justin Moorhouse can only be described as an X-rated Peter Kay; he has the accent and the warmth of a northern lad but his material and language is slightly more risqué than Kay's. Some of the people in the front row didn't help him when he was trying to warm things up, however there was one lady who was willing to join in and they bounced off each other all night, which carried on through all of his appearances and resulted in some hilarious interactions.
Ivo Graham started off well with a story about holidaying with his parents at the age of 25. He had the audience's attention while he told us about the embarrassment of sharing a room with them and an opaque bathroom wall. Sadly, after this the audience seemed to lose interest. Perhaps Graham's experience of being in an all-boys private school and RP accent isolated the audience a little- I'm not sure- but it was a real shame for him when one impatient audience member heckled him, when the rest had the decency to keep quiet. With that, he dropped what he was going to say and defended himself against her taunts earning him the respect of everyone else. It may not have been his best performance but this comedian certainly has potential, which may just come with experience.
Ben Norris arrived on stage to a somewhat hostile audience given that they hadn't connected well with the first act. He was able to bring it back with an obvious confidence and familiarity of being on stage. He had our sides splitting with stories of his partner and triplets; reimagined a world where people admitted to accidents in adverts and contemplated just who the gold trade in adverts are aimed at. He tackled familiar subjects, which I think the audience were grateful for at that point and he went down a treat with everyone.
When the staff of The Pyramid brought out three more microphones during the interval and it certainly piqued my interest. Four comedians at once? Surely not! Then out walked- The Noise Next Door- four men, one guitar, buckets of creativity and a predisposition for funny. They asked the audience for buzz words- like places, names, occupations and then created a song on the spot using the random and often wildly inappropriate choices from the audience.
It's one thing to get up on stage with a pre-prepared set, but something entirely different when you have no idea what you're going to be faced with when you let the audience take hold of the reins. They ended their time by picking out a member of the audience and sang a song to her about her love and hate relationship with her husband (for volunteering her for the task). They are a breath of fresh air in the comedy arena and I was in awe at how fast their minds work under the pressure of the spotlight.
Overall, another successful night was had at The Comedy Store. I particularly enjoyed seeing a totally different brand of comedy and although there was a wave of tension at the beginning- Justin Moorhouse just called it out for what it was which broke the ice and the rest of the night went swimmingly.