On Thursday 8th 2010 I saw Sean Lock live at the Wolves Civic in Wolverhampton.

His tour is called Lockipedia, and it is basically what Shaun knows about ‘stuff’. It has no real theme apart from what goes on in everyday life!

Early On
No real dramatics as Shaun came out, a little grin and a funny walk to the middle of the stage, but nothing dramatic. The usual ‘hello how are we all tonight’ and then the jokes began. However, they wern’t that funny, average at best. 5 minutes into it he stops and says “so far the jokes have been ok haven’t they, not great, but the sort where you go ‘ar yeah he’s right you know’” (as Shaun nods and does this slightly high pitch voice), unfortunately I can’t do an impression via a text article! But it was very funny. And this was to become a recurring theme throughout the night. Brilliantly built-up using average jokes.

First Hour
Sean’s style is very much to keep hitting you with jokes, often you don’t even get the chance to stop laughing and he is half way through the next gag. This can mean the atmosphere struggles to build to its full potential, but he delivers it brilliantly and it feels like your job to catch up with a breath, because he isn’t going to stop. After the first hour though the break was welcomed as the awful Wolves Civic seats began to numb our bums!

Second Half
After a 15minute break Sean reappears with a little silver stand, which has a book on it, “time to play a game!”, this game is what he calls “Audience Battleships”. The silence descends as everyone waits in a slightly nervy state. It turns out Sean has a book full of gags (hence the Wikipedia/Lockipedia), for hundreds of different dictionary words. He then reads a seat number out and the member of the audience has to pick a letter and subject – to which Sean proceeds with his jokes. This was a welcome change to his non-stop pre-break routine. But did at times slow down too much when audience members didn’t respond.

After a shortwhile of Sean’s book we are back to the routine. Very much in the same style and non-stop format as before. I felt he definitely was at his strongest at this point, with his best jokes flowing. All highly observational comedy of course!

Depth Of Work
As the night continued on I began to realise this man can talk forever! He perhaps could have gone on for hours more. A testament to the sheer amount of jokes Sean has is that during the night I only heard one gag from him that I’d heard before. Impressive considering the amount of times I have seen him on panel shows, interviews and of course Live At Apollo. And he didn’t doing his stand-up for 45minutes, it was a full on 2 hours!

Value For Money
Once again another comedian who is great value for money, at £15 a ticket not bad at all for an evening of laughs!

Final Thoughts
Overall I would give the performance 8/10. It was perhaps a bit long, even the funniest comedians need to know when to stop and leave the audience wanting more. He could have cut some of the lesser gags out to achieve this. But nonetheless a thoroughly enjoyable night.

Sean is on tour until November 2010 so take a look at your local area to see when he is near you!

On Saturday February 20th 2010 I saw Stephen K Amos live at the Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry.

In A Nutshell
Appropriately named ‘The Feelgood Factor’ this was a show full of energy, non stop laughs, and lots of audience engagement. A real event from a charming comedian who oozes confidence and is still on the rise. 9/10, must see if you get the chance.

Warm Up Act
First to the stage for a 30 minute crowd warm up was a young comedian called Seann Walsh, I’d heard his name before but knew nothing of him, and was just expecting a quick 10 minute giggle from a part-time comedian. How wrong I was! He was funny from start to finish.

Observational comedy which covered tripping over stuff, being drunk, and what kind of a person doesn’t use an airport travelator and walks to the side of it! The humour appeared to get more laughs from the younger people in the room (judging by laughs from those around me) but nonetheless topics everyone can relate to. So Seann Walsh is certainly one to look out, remember the name.

The Big Entrance
The lights went off and the room waited in suspense, a pause, and suddenly a series of glitter balls on the stage start to dance, the smoke machines begin and the Beyonce track ‘All The Single Ladies’ fires up loud – out emerges Stephen K Amos with dance moves even Mrs Jay-z herself would be proud of! And the so the fun begins….

On The Front Line
He began by mentioning this gig was near the end of his tour, to which a series of jokes about other areas of the country rolled out, to which Telford got a bit of a spanking. I’m not a huge fan of comedians constantly taking the piss out of other areas of the country, for me it is just an incredibly easy target and is very unoriginal. Nonetheless the material was funny and it only lasted about 5-10 minutes.

Then came the usual front row jibes, we had a 17 year old with his family, “you will learn there is an age when you stop going out with your parents”, a group of young lads from Kenilworth “the pheasants escaped!”, and an unsuspecting chap who Stephen made take his jacket off (even though I myself was quite cold in the hall!).

Crowd Fun!!
Other crowd fun included when he asked for a show of hands on ‘who here came to the gig last year?’, to which the sell out crowd of 1,500 fell silent. So he asked again, this time with a noise, but absolute silence descended. Only a live gig can provide comedy gold like this, Stephen genuinely found this hilarious!

The whole gig was a joke fest entwined with audience interaction, a blend which makes it ever so much more unpredictable and enjoyable. He also slowed it down half way through, telling about when his friend had cancer and he made the decision to become a comedian, a very endearing moment which actually fitted in well with the whole show.

Genuine Enjoyment
Wrapped around all the fun you got a real sense that Stephen himself had a good time. Even laughing at plenty of his own jokes (which he admitted) during the crowd interaction, I do warm to comedians who have this style and it certainly makes it feel uber relaxed and a real pleasure to be there.

Afterwards Meet
I myself had to shoot off as soon as it ended, but Stephen did stay behind in the Warwick Arts Centre to meet and greet fans for autographs and general chit chats. I thought this was great, showing a real respect towards fans. And as a fan personal interaction is always something special, and definitely a story to tell the lads down the pub (and the family, friends, postman, milkman + the cat, dog and old lady next door!).

Overall
I would give the gig 9/10. A charming character who has his own style and works the whole event beautifully, mixing audience interaction with prepared jokes. And amongst all of that you get a feeling for the man, something I rarely experience with other comedians, for me this gives it that something extra. He is a definite must see when you get the chance!

On November 4th 2009 I saw Andy Parsons Live at the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington Spa.

In A Nutshell
From start to finish a great performance from one the countries best comedians of the moment. Known for his timely pauses, a voice which should be annoying but isn’t, and a cheeky chappy grin – Andy Parsons excels on stage even more so then on popular TV programs such as Mock The Week. His natural style is very endearing and refreshing compared to other comedians around. A show 2 hours long felt more like 10 minutes, none stop laughs. A genuine must see comedian whether on DVD or live (see bottom of article for details). 9/10.

A Man Who Has To Do His Own Voiceovers
It began with the lights going out and Andy introducing himself, “a man who has do his own voiceovers at his shows, please welcome Andy Parsons”, to which he arrived in the usual comedian style with thumping music and dancing lights, complete with his trademark grin and jig/walk/slide/dance to the centre of the stage. As soon as he stands there, the clapping subsides and he just grins, instantly the laughing begins and you know you are in for a good show.

Talk Topics
Topics included; politicians, history, modern society, parking, a night in with a fruit nut chocolate bar, Iggle Piggle, current topics from the past couple of weeks and also what makes Britain great! He also asked “What annoys Leamington Spa”, to which a wall of silence was the response despite a sell out audience. Ammo is what you have to give comedians and he was given nothing, but without being unnerved he carried on seamlessly rolling on the show providing great laughs.

Hit List
On his hit list where; politicians, city bankers, teachers, traffic wardens, Katie Price, Peter Andre, Iggle Piggle, and of course the front row of the audience. At this gig was a guy called Tony who took the biggest battering, he had a moustache, came on his own to the show and used to work looking at school buildings in Coventry, but for some reason was no longer allowed to! The jokes flowed.

Oooops
Andy is an incredibly likeable and a very natural comedian. He even nearly fluffed a joke involving Michael Jackson and George Michael. I hadn’t even realised he nearly cocked it up until after he finished the gag he giggled and said ooops nearly cocked that joke right up! Openly admitting a little giggle from him normally means he has slightly got it wrong, only adding to his likeability.

The Campaign
Andy also championed his campaign to get Iggle Piggle banned! Don’t ban the comedians from the BBC, ban Iggle Piggle! For those who don’t know he is a small cute blue teddy from the CBBC program ‘In The Night Garden’. With Iggle Piggle any small surpise causes him to fall over, and now Andy’s nephew does the same, not cool Iggle.

What Makes Britain Great
Towards the end of the gig soft music began to play, and Andy began his speech about why he loves Britain, it added another element to the performance, a final farewell to sign off a great night.

Encore – We’re All Busy People
As the music began to blare and the final applause began the music instantly cut and Andy said “right thanks, lets get on with it, fuck it we’re all busy people!”. And he closed the show bringing back previous jokes full circle, showing off his confidence as a performer, ability to mould a joke around a whole night – and leave the audience on a high with big laughs.

Live Stand Up
If you get the chance I highly recommend you go and watch him live, it is a great night out well worth the money. You can see his latest tour dates on his Myspace page.

DVD – Britains Got Idiots
You can also buy the DVD titled Britains Got Idiots, which is released on November 23, 2009 and is available to pre-order from shops such as Amazon.co.uk (£12.98) and other good stores.