Not usually known for coverage of stand-up comedians but in the run up to Christmas these DVD’s always fly of the shelves to be lovingly wrapped and shoved under a tree. This week we have the release of Peter Kay’s: The tour that didn’t Tour, Russell Kane’s Smokescreens and Castles and finally Chris Addison’s imaginatively titled Live.
Peter Kay: The tour that didn’t Tour
We start with Peter Kay, arguably the best liked stand-up comedian in the UK working today. His comedy comes down to simple life observation and whilst he doesn’t go to the imaginative extremes of someone like Lee Evans (nowhere near as much perspiration), you still get the lovely honest view on mundane day to day life. Listening and looking at the audiences reaction will tell you all you need to know, apart from cracking up they are all looking at each other with complete recognition and saying something along the lines of “it’s true, it’s so true!” My favourite and definitely close to home, his very clever observations of the effect of Sky+ and other such digital TV. Cracking comedy from Peter Kay and highly recommended.
Russell Kane: Smokescreens and Castles
Russell Kane is a product of his upbringing and the surroundings it had, his mockery of everything Essex and of course he’s tyrannical sounding father. This kind of comedy strikes a cord especially when speaking of his hard nosed dad, of course a comedian has the right to make up things for comedic value but you do wonder how much is made up if any. As he prances across the stage and tells you home truths that sound like they should hurt, instead you laugh at the intelligent and incredibly witty yarns that he spins. Following in a long line of Stand up Russells this one is set to follow them to a bigger venue.
Chris Addison: Live
Impressing me when you have replaced Frankie Boyle on Mock the Week is not easy, Chris Addison had that task. He does get the odd laugh from me but only adds to what is a slowly diminishing show with only really Dara O’Briain holding it together. His stand up of late has taken a bit of a nose dive too; usually the comedian uses a lecture style show that was smart enough for the satire to work. Since becoming a bigger name he’s lost some of that student sensibility and tries to rough it with the rest of the comedians in low brow annoyance of every day life. It’s not that it’s not funny it just doesn’t suit this gangling frame of a man that now looks more funny than he sounds, to me I’m afraid he always be “that one sitting in Frankie Boyles chair”.
