Brigstocke bites (a bit)

Marcus Brigstocke has always been a bit Radio 4; middle-class, intelligent and a tad smug. So what better place for him to perform than the festival that is essentially a live version of the sleepy radio channel (literally at some points – Brigstocke has just come from performing Just a Minute)? It’s unashamed middle-class armchair liberalism, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

 

In all there are seven Hayite rounds of applause, for anti-Blair, anti-Bush, anti-Littlejohn rants, and the smugness does at points become a bit stifling in the crowded tent in the middle of Wales. But beyond this Brigstocke is charming, interesting and original; everything the Hay crowd would like to think they are (but aren’t).

 

He’s taken on a harder edge recently, whether it’s a reaction to the state of the world or a career move it doesn’t matter, he has more bite and that can only be a good thing. Of course he hasn’t become some sort of corduroy-clad Bill Hicks but he comes across as one of the few comedians peddling political material because he actually cares and his act makes you think far more than a lecture from AA Gill or Simon Schama ever will.

Josh Widdicombe www.suchsmallportions.com

Sarah Kendall at Hay Festival

45 seconds. That’s how long it takes Sarah Kendall to point out that a) she’s an Australian, b) this isn’t Australia, this is Wales and c) ho ho ho aren’t they different and isn’t she a fish out of antipodean waters? It’s material based on topics as obvious as the rain hammering down on the canvas above our heads. Let’s just say that if the beer at the Hay Festival was as cheap as some of Kendall’s jokes ssp would have enjoyed her set a whole lot more.

Festival line-ups are all about balance and it’s easy to see why Kendall made the bill. Her jape-by-numbers routine offers a soothing brain balm to an audience exhausted from the day’s programme of political debate and literary sparring. However, for those of us too stupid to even feign an interest in the ‘meat’ of the festival, her patter is so much candy floss – sticky, sweet and as light as air.

There is one fantastic moment when someone in the audience gets up to go to the loo. Kendall does the obligatory “don’t go, it’ll get better” bit until the loo-leaver gets to the door, then she hisses “Aren’t we glad she’s gone? I couldn’t believe she came, can you?” It’s both spiteful and conspiratory and for a fleeting moment we join the intelligentsia in roaring along to her observational wit.

For rest of the time we’re plagued by the feeling that this is one of the rare occasions at Hay that ssp will be the authority on something. And we’re supremely confident in our knowledge that, despite what these fiercely intelligent people may think, Sarah Kendall is just no good.

Henry Barnes – live editor at www.suchsmallportions.com

Peep Show 4: a bit desperate

With all six episodes built to what was hoped to be some sort of monumental final episode wedding extravaganza, the fourth series of Peep Show has been the first to have a truly conventional story arc. Viewers have overlooked the slightly dodgy episodes with plots based around desperate attempts to make Mark and Jeremy’s actions more extreme as they waited for the greatest car crash wedding since Britney/K Fed. We saw Jeremy eat a dog (for no real reason), Mark going feral in a car park (in an unlikely change of character) and the whole show just becoming a bit too silly. Much like the new Derren Brown series it was paired with on Friday nights, ideas had been sacrificed in favour of extreme scenarios.

In the end, the final episode was just more of the same. Mark and Sophie’s wedding was predictably disastrous, while Jeremy pissed himself. That was about it. This series has been a bit Mitchell-heavy throughout with Robert Webb restricted to playing bit parts as the vacuous Jeremy. It’s a disservice to Webb who, although maybe not as funny as David Mitchell, puts in a brilliantly desperate performance as Jeremy which deserves more screen time. Perhaps now the “el dude brothers” are set to be reunited in series five, the problems we have seen over the past six weeks will be remedied.

Josh Widdicombe – editor www.suchsmallportions.com

SSP interrogated

On Monday, 30 April, editor Josh and I joined “On The Fringe”, resonance fm’s flagship fringe theatre show.
Poor old resonance.
The studio, which basically shares a space with the neighbouring restaurant’s toilet, suffers badly from a leaky roof/holey floor and nowhere near enough money to fix itself. Recently, the station laid on a fundraising comedy gig in Soho (read our review) but if you missed it, and still wanna donate money, well you can do that too. Here

Anyway, when we get a copy of the show, where Josh and I pimped SSP ourselves for all we’re worth (how much is that?), we’ll put it on a podcast or something.

Thanks to all who listened – the multimedia comedy takeover is nigh.

georgie x