Viv Ellis enjoys a comedy night that's a bit on the rude side
Phil Zimmerman’s No 5 Club, Downstairs at The Drayton, Ealing
Richard Herring, one of the UK’s most prolific and talented stand up comedians, first wrote “Talking Cock” – sort of a male answer to the ‘Vagina Monologues’ - a decade ago.
He’s now updated it for this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Never having seen the critically acclaimed original I was looking forward to going along and reporting back for Ealing Today. Within about 30 seconds I realized this was going to be next to impossible. It’s very rude. Hilarious. But far too rude for these pages.
So what can I tell you? Well, it’s over an hour of stories, musings and gags about erm, well….. a man’s pride and joy, his wedding tackle, his flute of love – you get the drift. His delivery was amazing, self-assured and confident he had us all in the palm of his hand in no time (though given the subject matter of the show, that’s perhaps not the best phrase to use).
He published questionnaires on his website to get both men and women to give their opinions and funny stories – whether what he delivered on stage were genuine answers from the public or not I can’t say, but it was uproarious. I will never regard jelly in the same way again – but let’s just leave it at that.
I think Edinburgh will go very well….
Earlier were two support acts; – Hils Barker, raised laughs with a mix of songs and gags though I have seen her perform with a lot more self-assurance- and Dan Evans whom I had never seen before but hope to again. Sample: I asked the hotel receptionist for a wake up call, he said ‘you’re over 40, bald and have a rubbish car and job’.
It’s a shame that TV at the moment seems to serve up the same names ALL the time; Micky Flanagan, Jason Manford Sarah Millican Kevin Bridges etc etc when there are plenty of other names that never get a look in. Dan Evans was brilliant do catch him if you can.
Overall a brilliant night but memo to the management: given the number of times the microphone failed …. maybe it’s time for a new one?
Viv Ellis
2nd July 2012