Gary Delaney: There’s Something About Gary, On tour
Bending comedy into new shapes is all very well, but you may feel that there was nothing all that wrong with the original shapes to begin with. Or, to put it another way, while we can enjoy marvelling at the audacity of someone reinventing the art of stand-up, there’s something to be said for those practitioners who aspire to nothing more than producing a consistent stream of uncomplicated laughter. Gary Delaney is one such performer, offering an uninterrupted package of high-quality puns and one-liners. Go and see Delaney, and you won’t gain insight into his personal life or his views on Syria, but you will hear plenty of jokes from a guy who is becoming a bona fide master of the craft. As anyone who pulled a cracker in the last month will attest, being able to deliver a gag so that it gets a laugh rather than a groan is harder than it looks.
Artrix, Bromsgrove, Sat; Swindon Arts Centre, Fri; touring to 11 Jun
Mark Watson, Norwich
Mark Watson has a good claim to being one of the most quietly influential comedians in the UK. The first of a new wave of performers to emerge from that often-stultifying incubator of comic talent, the Cambridge Footlights, after Watson came Tim Key and, more recently, sketch outfits such as The Pin and Sheeps, all frequently seen at uber-hip London venue The Invisible Dot Ltd. The hallmark of this group has been a willingness to consistently aim for innovative forms of comedy that push the confines of the genre. Watson’s stand-up flirts with conventional styles, but is driven by a soft-pedalled intellectual curiosity. These dates offer a sneak peek at his new show I’m Not Here (touring 2 Mar to 22 Oct), which extrapolates from a minor everyday incident in an airport to reach thought-provoking conclusions about who we really are.
Norwich Playhouse, Wed to 16 Jan
The Noise Next Door, On tour
The biggest danger with improvised comedy is self-indulgence: the performers can get so caught up in their own jokes that they fail to ensure the audience is having an equally good time. That’s not likely to be an issue for sprightly five-piece The Noise Next Door, whose immersive and hugely energetic stage presentation defies any member of the crowd not to get involved in the fun. Creating a mix of songs and sketches based on audience suggestions, these guys may be having a good time in each other’s company, but they convince us that we’re part of the gang, too. Any improv connoisseur will be familiar with some of the tricks and tropes they use, but that doesn’t detract from the skill with which they are executed. All of which means that they’re comfortably able to sustain a full-length show. Rather than the gimmick getting tired over the course of an evening, they’re far more likely to leave you feeling exhausted with laughter.
