Hyperactive comedian Lee Evans is back with his new DVD Roadrunner – and having lost none of the energy, he’s just as flamboyant as ever.
As one of the UK’s biggest names in comedy, Lee Evans is known for his high octane, energetic, and lively presence onstage. His previous DVD’s, such as Wired and Wonderful received rave reviews: and it looks like this will be no exception.
Starting the show by acknowledging his character trait of – just sometimes – sweating a little, he’s perfectly happy to be derogatory about himself and his style. Having self-branded himself as a ‘sweaty chimp boy’ before he even reaches the stage, you instantly feel there’s no ego in sight.
Evans is no stranger to area tours, and despite the fact that the largest stages in the country are provided for the use of one man, it never feels empty. His inability to stay still for any period of time means that there is likely no corner of the country’s biggest areas that hasn’t been trodden by Evans. It’s this authority he has over the stage and the audience that helps to make him a sell-out act, again and again.
While a lot of the material he pulls his jokes from is rather mundane, it’s the fast-paced, over-excited way he delivers it that helps to make him stand out from the crowd. He covers a range of topics – from getting dressed in the morning and crazy shopping experiences to the things women say and getting older.
It’s the way that many of his observations ring true in the lives of his audience that makes the material even funnier. While there are so many lines to choose from, a favourite has to be that “women never take a coat out, they don’t need one. No they’ve already got one, it’s lovely and warm…I should know, it’s called f**king mine”.
This is the kind of comedy DVD that can be seen again and again: with so much material crammed into 2 hours, it’s easy to miss those throwaway lines – and multiple viewings means there’s always something new to laugh at.
Walking onto the stage with a glass of wine in hand, Dylan Moran is back with his new comedy show, Yeah Yeah.
Probably most well known from his successful TV series Black Books, Dylan Moran has been entertaining audiences for over 20 years now with his very definitely un-PC stand up comedy. The experience works well in his favour, and he comes across confident and practised.
Portraying a raffish, laid back and lazy Irishman, you’d be mistaken for thinking Moran is simply going to make jokes on the smaller topics. Yet he’s quick to put you right as he launches into his first rant on the technological world – saying “you can’t put a machine that goes blip into a grocery shop – you need to talk to people”.
Starting his set with a trip round the British Isles, Moran touches on a wide range of topics – from politics and parenthood to musicians and male pride. He makes reference clever references to the situation between Ireland and Germany, then manages to seamlessly slide into his views on the pointlessness of skiing.
While he often acts the ignorant – his belief that The Archers is simply a show about people who are “very, very worried about getting their crisps to the fete on time: no wonder everybody’s hooked” – it’s obvious he’s done his research and is talking from experience. This contradiction makes gives his punch lines an extra edge that goes beyond simple one liners.
Moran flits from one subject to another, sometimes so quickly it’s hard to keep up. One moment he’s talking about the weather, then he’s onto the confusing things women do, and finally he’s talking about middle age – and all within the space of a couple of minutes.
However, despite this, the quick change is done so flawlessly that you barely notice, and even in the pauses he doesn’t lose that audience. Though he often ‘loses his thread’ – and you can actually believe that he’s just rambling instead of following a planned and practised script – he picks up quickly enough to keep you engaged.
For some intelligent comedy that can even leave you thinking once it’s finished, Dylan Moran never fails to disappoint. Yeah Yeah is out now in time for Christmas, and is well worth treating yourself to.
Tim Minchin’s new DVD is full of irony, sarcasm, and a liberal dash of scepticism. Kicking off with an impressive, intentionally over-done entrance focusing on the egos of big name celebrities, he starts the show by telling us “nothing ruins comedy like arenas” – setting the scene for the following 2 hours.
Rock n Roll Nerd is a light-hearted story of a young man dreaming of playing on the big stage to thousands of fans – and while you kind of know it’s coming; when Minchin reaches the end and lets us in to that fact that he’s singing about himself, the laughs are just as appreciative.
With his ability to capture the audience’s attention as he leads up towards his next piece, you can’t help but find something to laugh at – even in his old material, which has been given a new lease of life with the orchestra behind it.
He’s just as irreverent as ever, with songs like Sam’s Mum and the always popular Pope Song making an appearance. As he launches into the latter piece, a cheer goes up – proving that it’s still a firm favourite with Minchin’s audience.
Tim Minchin has a great skill for making his audience both nervous about where he is going, as well as to keep them anticipating what he will say. Even from the comfort of the sofa, you can feel the strain the audience is going through as he brings out a copy of the Qur’an, places it next to a copy of Harry Potter and quite calmly discusses the significance of burning books.
Daring the audience seems to be a game to Minchin, as can be heard in Cont, where on first playing he seems to insult every possible minority group possible, leaving you feeling slightly uncomfortable when it reaches the end. However, as always, Minchin manages to alleviate any fears after revealing the true title of the song is not ‘Cont’, but in fact ‘Context’.
However, it’s not only irreverence and smart gags that make up the show. His closing number, White Wine in the Sun in tear-jerkingly beautiful, and as he quite rightly says, he gets trouble from his audience if he doesn’t play it.
Although it may not quite be a DVD for family viewing over the Christmas period, if you need a break and some light-hearted disrespect, Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra is perfect viewing.
TV’s Rufus Hound is a comedian, presenter, actor and the owner of a very fine moustache.
You already know him as the star of Celebrity Juice, Let’s Dance For Comic Relief (dressed as Cheryl Cole), Argumental, and of his own CBBC sitcom, Hounded.
Now, in this brilliant debut DVD, Rufus goes back to his stand-up roots in a stunning live show, recorded at London’s legendary 100 Club.
In addition to the 70 minute main feature – DVD Extras include an audio commentary from Rufus Hound and his Celebrity Juice chums Fearne Cotton and Keith Lemon, as well as a feature length interview with Rufus backstage at the 100 club.
Rufus Hound has also been busy of late, launching Your PC Mate, a national campaign with Microsoft Windows where he will be hitting the streets of England to give away free PCs to the most deserving cases. Rufus and the Windows team will be matching unsuspecting owners of out-of-date, old computers with shiny, new laptops from The Collection complete with Windows 7 and Office 2010.
Cities next on Rufus’s list include:
Birmingham – 22 November
Southampton – 29 November
To support the campaign we are inviting people to tweet via #YourPCMate, telling us their location and why they deserve an upgrade for the chance to win a free PC makeover. In addition a Facebook App has been created on the Windows UK Facebook page where people can upload an image of their PC or their friends/family PC for a separate chance at winning. There users can also follow Rufus via a Bing integrated Twitter Map and MSN videos as he tours the UK.
Buzzin Media Free Comedy Competition
Please Note: this competition has now closed
Enter our free competition for a chance to win a copy of Rufus Hound: Being Rude DVD all you need to do is answer the following question:
For Let’s Dance for Comic Relief, who did Rufus Hound dress as?
a. Cheryl Cole
b. Ashley Cole
c. Carlton Cole
Send your entries to comps@buzzinmedia.co.uk with “Rufus Hound Comp” in the subject line with your answer and your full address and contact telephone number.
This Buzzin Media Competition ends on 18th December,2011. The editor will randomly choose 3 winners.
The Latitude Festival has become a mecca for great comedy with crowds often rivalling the music stages.
My first trip to this year’s Comedy Arena was on a sunny Friday afternoon to see the very amusing and original Graham Fellows aka John Shuttleworth. One man and his bontempi organ, all the way from Sheffield, with a show entitled ‘Smells Like White Spirit’, John Shuttleworth pulled a large crowd and his banal musical muses went down well with the Radio 4 listening Latitude comedy fans.
On Saturday morning The Latitude Comedy Arena played host to the first ever live performance of the very popular comedy quiz show, Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Regular team captains Phil Jupitus and Noel Fielding were joined by guests including singer Paloma Faith and guest quizmaster and stand-up comedian David O’Doherty.
As you can imagine the comedy tent was overflowing with fans eager to get a glimpse of this popular show with its more obscene than usual, adult humour. I stood in the rain for 90 minutes as I watched the performance on one of the large screens adorning each side of the Comedy Arena with my two sons. The, allegedly, totally unscripted show was hilarious and had us all laughing as we got drenched in a constant downpour.
One of the comedy highlights of Sunday was Mark Watson who appeared to be delivering an unscripted, anarchic live performance which included chasing a member of the audience through the crowd. He then proceeded to give the majority of his performance from the middle of the audience.
Adam Buxton, of Adam & Joe fame, was brilliant. His show was based on showing mock music promo videos he had produced and uploaded to YouTube and then simply reading some of the more ridiculous real comments people had actually left. The highlight was his video for an NWA pastiche ‘Help The Police’ and a selection of the angry comments fans of the hip hop band had left.
I had previously seen the Boy With Tape On His Face and so knew what to expect. It was still funny the second time but the element of surprise had passed as he ran through the same performance. Not a word is spoken as the Boy With Tape on His Face invites members of the audience on stage to help with his act. But once they are on stage he doesn’t perform a magic trick that needs their help, but simply humiliates them by emphasising their awkward embarrassment for laughs. It’s very original and very funny, but also very limited in its appeal. To hold an audience for 40 minutes is some feat but he’s going to have to completely rewrite his act before venturing out again.
As always, there were more performances than I could see at this year’s Latitude Festival; and come Sunday evening I felt disappointed to have missed the likes of Jon Richardson, Seann Walsh, Brendon Burns & the Early Edition with Marcus Brigstocke & Andre Vincent. But that said it was another great Latitude Festival this year; and the one festival above all others I am already hoping to attend in 2012.
Hyperactive comedian Lee Evans is back with his new DVD Roadrunner – and having lost none of the energy, he’s just as flamboyant as ever.
