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| Rob Coleman |
Review by: Paul Towers, 24 April 2016
Comedy Workshop Performance night
Upstairs @ The Western, 24 April 2016
“one liners, puns and shaggy dog stories.”
For the past six weeks 7 novice stand up comedians have been
working on producing 10 minutes of original material and then performing it in
front of a paying audience.
Throughout that time they have been mentored by Gary
Phillpott, artistic director of Off The Fence and Upstairs at The Western, and
local comedy hero Dan Nicholas, he of Conversation Garden fame.
The line-up was a mixture of complete virgins to comedy and a
couple of more experienced comics. Their material was a mix of one liners, puns
and shaggy dog stories.
Nick Muszynskyj kicked the evening off after our compere,
Dan Nicholas, had warmed the audience up. Nick set the tone for the evening
with a litany of groan inducing puns and one liners worthy of Tim Vine. Next
was Kash, the baby of the group at 22. His embarrassing tales of being a geek
in a gym had us in empathetic fits of
laughter and relief that it wasn’t just us that was intimidated when surrounded
by work out equipment. Then onto the stage strolled a wild looking Welshman by
the name of Chris Phillips. His timing was immaculate as he related tales of
the valleys. Next up was Neil May, another exponent of one liners and puns.
Taking us up to the interval was the sublime Matt West with his hilarious
imaginings of the domestic life of the JML voice-over guy.
After a reviving pint at
the bar Dan Nicholas herded back to our seats and the most experienced
performer of the course, James Sheridan, another aficionado of the one liner and pun. Finally we welcomed
Lisa Marsden on to the stage where she regaled us with excruciating tales of
caravanning holidays as a child.
And
then, just to make sure we left the theatre with a smile on our lips,
established stand up Rob Coleman who mixed misanthropic tales of his misery
with increasingly tasteless one liners. The perfect end to a perfect night.
First published in Western Gazette
and Pub Theatre Blog
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