Tom Lucy, London
It surely won’t be long before we’re talking about the first major standup born in the new millennium. 1996 is about as close as we’ve got so far, in the shape of rising star Tom Lucy, who’s generating a remarkable amount of industry buzz for someone who’s only on the cusp of turning 20. Watch him live and you’ll quickly understand the excitement, because what Lucy lacks in experience he more than makes up for in joke-writing. There’s a wonderful elegance and economy to his best gags that performers much older than him would kill for, lines that you can imagine coming not from a callow teen, but from a performer like Jimmy Carr or Josh Widdicombe in front of an arena crowd. You get the feeling that when it comes to the oddly underrated business of manufacturing killer punchlines, this rookie has all the makings of a master craftsman. In terms of subject matter, he’s got an exceptional Inbetweeners-esque way of nailing the insecurity and sexual cravings of adolescent life. Maybe that’s not so surprising, given that he’s still living it.
Top Secret Comedy Club, WC2, Sat; The Queen’s Head, W1, Sun
Jonny & The Baptists: The End Is Nigh, On tour
Musical comedy outfit Jonny & The Baptists aren’t afraid of making enemies. Previously, they’ve incurred the wrath of the far right with their Stop Ukip tour, bringing forth screeches of indignation from the purple party, who attempted to force venues to cancel the performances. This time out, the guitar-and-drum-machine duo are leaving party politics to one side and tackling the destruction of our natural environment. The End Is Nigh weaves important issues about the threat to the planet’s ecosystem into a musical, as part of singer Jonny Donahoe’s attempts to honour a promise he made to his four-year-old niece about fixing climate change. The work of Donahoe and collaborator Paddy Gervers sits squarely in the tradition of left-leaning topical comedy songwriting; while they’re not in the business of preaching to the unconverted, their flair for arresting concepts and left turns will delight fellow travellers.
Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Tue to 2 Apr; touring to 27 May
Brett Goldstein, London
Standup is just a small part of Brett Goldstein’s output. In the past few years, he has co-written and starred in a well-received movie (SuperBob); made scene-stealing cameos in sitcoms such as Uncle and Drifters; and started a writing partnership with Catherine Tate. Goldstein’s live work is softer and gentler than his occasionally big and brash TV turns, and sees him rake through his own life experiences to draw big philosophical conclusions. He has an advantage in having a more distinctive autobiography than most, able to draw on time spent running a strip club in Marbella at the age of 21, or becoming obsessed with porn while studying in Manhattan. But none of this seems like showing off, and it doesn’t fall into the category of narcissistic soul-baring, either. Just a naturally funny guy trying to make sense of the things he’s lived through, and using them to delight others.
Ku Bar, WC2, Mon; Storm, WC2, Thu; Royal Albert Hall: Elgar Room, SW7, Fri
