Alan Carr at the Colston Hall in Bristol - Comedy Review
Posted on: 2015-07-23
Our rating:
High energy, full-on camp, slick observations, inspired audience interaction, gags more hit than miss, and a total lack of pretense make Yap, Yap, Yap! one of my more unexpectedly delightful comedy diversions of recent years.
Comedian Alan Carr brings his inimitable style of comedy to Bristol's Colston Hall for his Yap, Yap, Yap! tour which runs until Friday 24 July 2015.
To me, Carr has always slotted into the Marmite category of the current crop of comedians. You either love him or hate him and, though I've never totally disliked him, I've more often than not found him more irritating than amusing.
There's no doubt that his rise in the ranks of one of the nation's top mirth makers has been stratospheric. He won the BBC New Comedy Award in 2001 and has since gone on to much greater things to tickle the UK's funny bones, most notably his Chatty Man series on Channel 4 which firmly established him as one of Blighty's favourite comedy performers.
Like many comedians before him, Carr cut his teeth on the Manchester comedy circuit, along the way making friends with other A-list comedy contemporaries such as John Bishop and Jason Manford. His big break came co-hosting The Friday Night Project with Justin Lee Collins before segueing effortlessly into presenting his own show, Celebrity Ding Dong, and he has also since broadened his considerable rib-tickling talents appearing on radio and film as well as snagging a BAFTA award.
Entering the theatre with an ambivalent mindset about the buck-toothed, bespectacled funny man, I wondered how his one man stand-up show would fare. It was a revelation. For sure, the often shrill voice and occasionally exaggerated camp histrionics which are, after all, part of his act and character, took a little while to get used to, but it soon became clear that Carr is a man in total control of his material and the audience.
The show's title stems from the fact that these days everyone has an opinion, particularly when it comes to the likes of Twitter and social media. It's a reasonably wobbly foundation on which to build what is the best part of a two-hour set and he returns as and when it suits him, but he just about gets away with it.
Mining the majority of his gags from very human observations, we get a machine-gun onslaught of comedy zingers and neatly-honed gems. Targets of his acerbic, often spot-on wit include people's inane comments on Trip Advisor, bullying, the incomprehensibility of market traders, finding romance after 15 years as a singleton, Hungry Hippos, school photographs, the pick 'n mix at Woolworths, and how he and Lionel Blair once saved a suicidal man (complete with Carry-On innuendo punchline).
His flamboyant gallivanting across the stage may occasionally over-do the theatricality, but there's no denying it's all delivered with an incredibly warm and immensely likeable self-deprecating charm. There are a few nicely-phrased observations of outrage and hyperbole too (cue his familiar high-pitched shrieking), and it's intermittently sprinkled with several beguilingly surreal moments.
High energy, full-on camp, slick observations, inspired audience interaction, gags more hit than miss, and a total lack of pretense make Yap, Yap, Yap! one of my more unexpectedly delightful comedy diversions of recent years.
4/5
Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for 365 Bristol - the leading events and entertainment website for Bristol
Article by:
Born and raised in the suburbs of Swansea, Jimmy moved to Bristol back in 2004 to attend university. Passionate about live music, sport, science and nature, he can usually be found walking his cocker spaniel Baxter at any number of green spots around the city. Call James on 078 9999 3534 or email Editor@365Bristol.com.
