Jestin' at The Western 2/9/17

Review by: Paul Towers, 02 September 2017

Jestin’ at The Western  

Dan Nicholas

Upstairs @ The Western, 2/9/17

“the new monthly stand-up comedy night”

Tonight was the inaugural night of Jestin’ in The Western, the new monthly stand-up comedy night. Running on the first Saturday of the month this is a night fronted by local hero Dan Nicholas as an opportunity for new and established acts to try out new material.

This edition was full to the brim with an eclectic mix of styles and, it has to be said, quality of material.

The evening started off with Dan Nicholas’ warm up of trademark off the wall comedy. A great way to gee an audience up.

First on the bill was Eric Rushton whose faux shambolic stories told in a surreal deadpan way worked very well. He appeared to relish gently provoking the audience and running with the results.

Next up was the self styled Magic Poetman, William Makesbeer. While his comedy poetry was quite humorous his musings in between didn’t always work.

To wind up the first half we had Lucy Thompson, a local lesbian with a sharp delivery and a nice line in self deprecating tales of her mixed heritage upbringing.

With a well needed break for refreshments Dan Nicholas took to the stage once more to kick start the second half of the bill.

First up was Steph Brown, an Irish woman with great comic timing.

Next was Bruce, the one dud of the evening. He came on stage with a rather nasty beard and wig as a disguise solely so he could recycle a very old joke about hiding from the DWP. His material limped on, mildly amusing until his finale, an awful rewritten version of Land Of Hope And Glory.

Fortunately the next act, the headliner of the evening, was George Rigden, an acerbic and quite aggressive performer like a cross between Joe Wilkinson and Nick Helm. However he got away with it by being funny, mostly.

Jestin’ at The Western is on every first Saturday of the month and serves up 3 hours of comedy for just £8. Bargain!

Also returning later this month is the renowned Upstairs at The Western comedy workshops run by Dan Nicholas starting on 24 September and culminating in a showcase performance on 5 November.

 Upstairs at The Western http://upstairsatthewestern.com/

First published on Western Gazette and Pub Theatres