Comedy Workshops Graduation Day 2017

Review by: Paul Towers, 05 November 2017

Graduation Day – Alex Hylton + support

Upstairs @ The Western, 5 November 2017

“an evening of new comedy.”

Upstairs at The Western has long been committed to supporting up and coming talent in comedy. Under the tutelage of local comedian Dan Nicholas the venue runs comedy workshops which culminate in a performance before a paying audience. While all levels of writers and performers are welcome it usually turns out to be aspiring comedians who sign up.

This year’s alumni of five proved to be talented enough to hold their own in their allotted stage spots.

Sarah Davis opened after Dan had warmed the audience up. Her confident manner delivered an hilarious stream of puns, mainly health related.

Next came Valter, a Portuguese/Spaniard who started off with the distinct disadvantage of English being his second language. However he used this to his advantage with tales of English confusion and Brexit bafflement.

Lisa Martin, pleasingly the second female on the course, had a very sure delivery and produced plenty of laughs.

Kevin Hudson, looking much like Terry Pratchett, was a self confessed grumpy old man and railed against all the things that us older people find perplexing, self service tills especially.

And talking of Terry Pratchett, the next act was billed as Death Itself (complete with flowing black robes) aka Gavin Pilchard, who had a very nice laid back delivery as he moaned about long working hours and the irritation of Mrs Death’s indecision.

To round off the evening we had Alex Hylton as the headline act. A Midlands based 22 yr old, Alex has a voice like ‘Marge Simpson in a blender’ (his words) and a very disarming self effacing style to his material as he apologises for not being more manly. Very charming and likeable. A great way to end an evening of new comedy.

The next comedy workshop course starts in January and culminates with a gig as part of the Leicester Comedy Festival 2018. Full details are on the Upstairs at The Western website.

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

First published on Western Gazette
and PubTheatres