Like most
artistic media, the world of stand-up is a ladder for the aspiring to
climb. At the top there are the theatre tours, and below that the club
circuit, chain clubs featuring established acts, independent clubs with
a mix and giving opportunities to the up and coming. Then there are the
open mic nights for the newcomers. And somewhere in there, there are the
underground clubs.
Often run by a comic who acts as host themselves, and featuring their
friends or anyone they could talk into coming along to do a set, shoved
into whatever venue they could blag for free and run on a budget of
tuppence-ha’penny and a packet of juicy fruit, they tend to be
informal, sometimes chaotic, and often a lot of fun.
Lemon Custard is the brainchild of Dee
Custance, who co-hosts along with Sian
Bevan. They make a good pairing. Custance does the “excitable
girly-girl” thing, a style that has become popular of late thanks to
the success of Josie Long, while Bevan has a more straightforward and
grounded style and is the more natural MC of the two and whose "New
Year on Calton Hill" story is a highlight of the night. They make
their guests feel welcome by handing out lollipops and liquorish
allsorts and going round the audience finding out a bit about everyone.
This doesn’t take long, the paying public initially numbering ten,
although more arrived as the night went on.
Held in the Harlequin Cafe, a little basement organic food eaterie below
a bookshop off Buccleugh Street, it was a bizarre location for a comedy
night, the room having no real focal point at which to perform, but this
helped to create an informal atmosphere where the comics seemed to be
more talking with the audience rather than performing for them, and all
three of the main acts seemed to cope with the circumstances well.
First up was Austin Low, a
spiky haired youngster who has been performing since he was 15. And a
very good start it was, Low was a bundle of nervous energy and threw
himself into his performance with gusto. Introducing himself as the
“Urban Joker,” much of his set was taken up with his campaign to end
false advertising, including questioning what exactly is mega about the
Megabus, and whether there is any scientifically proven basis for
claiming the existence of a Lynx Effect. It was an excellent opening set
and left me wanting more, which is always the sign of a good comic.
Following this, the night veered off into the slightly surreal as the
audience were invited to participate in a giant game of scrabble, with
the slightly altered rule that any word was acceptable, real or not, as
long as you could use it in a sentence. As such, between us we managed
to enhance the English language with such gems as triangley,
zebravem and wankmap,
along with my own submission, antifloaty.
Next we had Jim Park, who I had
previously seen less than a month ago and was less than impressed with
on that occasion. Although understandable, it didn’t really help that
his set on this occasion was not merely word for word but pause for
pause identical to the previous one. It reinforced my opinion of his set
being too calculated, even while he tries to give the impression of a
stream of consciousness. It isn’t that I disliked it, just that I
found it a little too rigid and structured. That said, however, for the
second time I seemed to be in the minority and he went down very well.
Last up was Keir
McAllister, who I had also seen recently, and who again performed
much of the same material. However, he is a much less rigid, more fluid
performer and easily capable of thinking on his feet and adapting his
set to the circumstances. As such, although the punchlines were
familiar, the setups were often fresh and interesting. And with a
headlining spot giving him more time to build his gags rather than
rushing from laugh to laugh, and there was also plenty of material I
hadn’t heard before including a good routine involving having fun with
religious bigots.
Overall it was a strange but fun night, the kind of night that makes you
feel a part of, rather than a spectator of, the action. It isn’t a
night for the shrinking violet comedy goer, there is no possibility of
hiding at the back here, but equally there is no possibility for the
performer of hiding behind the stage lights and keeping the audience at
a distance. Audience and comic thrust together at close quarters, it
makes an interesting dynamic, and a very enjoyable night. |
