Simon Munnery & Simon Amstell at the BAC
Ian, Alex and I repaired to the Battersea Arts Centre to take in a couple of the Edinburgh warm-ups that are currently being performed. Munnery, of Alan Parker and League Against Tedium fame, played out various new pieces he has been working on including an examination of a 60s childrens book on soldiery that forgets to mention death. Munnery ultimately ran over, so we all reconvened in the bar where he read from his book How To Live which the grafitti artist Banksy had published.
Next up was Simon Amstell, who rather than flinging himself headlong into another show once he had finished his Popworld tenure, instead seems to have booked himself into a colossal number of gigs, almost as though he's more interested in mastering the craft than he is at using his celebrity status to take a short-cut to the glittering prizes.
Slightly odd moment when he pinched someone's fan because it was bothering him, but then it's a tough call. Does he allow himself to be bothered and give a below par performance?
About half of the set was stuff that I'd seen previously, but was well polished and worked into the new stuff. He picked out a particular girl in the audience, the drunk blonde that seems to be ubiquitous in comedy gigs these days, and kept returning to her, either by his own choice or to counter her interjections. Yet his set still ran short, so how far shorter it would run when he is spared the drunk blonde is hard to say; I suppose it depends on how far he manages to orchestrate that happening each night.
But length aside it was an enjoyable set. Amstell's in an odd position in that he's not that famous, but he has moved in circles with people more famous than he is (he was invited to Elton John's wedding having never met the man), and a fair amount of his material seemed to be informed by that peculiar viewpoint. His star is on the ascendance though; he will be taking over the hosting of Never Mind The Buzzcocks next series, which may even be reason enough to start watching it again.
Next up was Simon Amstell, who rather than flinging himself headlong into another show once he had finished his Popworld tenure, instead seems to have booked himself into a colossal number of gigs, almost as though he's more interested in mastering the craft than he is at using his celebrity status to take a short-cut to the glittering prizes.
Slightly odd moment when he pinched someone's fan because it was bothering him, but then it's a tough call. Does he allow himself to be bothered and give a below par performance?
About half of the set was stuff that I'd seen previously, but was well polished and worked into the new stuff. He picked out a particular girl in the audience, the drunk blonde that seems to be ubiquitous in comedy gigs these days, and kept returning to her, either by his own choice or to counter her interjections. Yet his set still ran short, so how far shorter it would run when he is spared the drunk blonde is hard to say; I suppose it depends on how far he manages to orchestrate that happening each night.
But length aside it was an enjoyable set. Amstell's in an odd position in that he's not that famous, but he has moved in circles with people more famous than he is (he was invited to Elton John's wedding having never met the man), and a fair amount of his material seemed to be informed by that peculiar viewpoint. His star is on the ascendance though; he will be taking over the hosting of Never Mind The Buzzcocks next series, which may even be reason enough to start watching it again.
posted by Hamilton's Brain | 10:20 am
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