It's dark, it's crowded, it's probably about 2am and it's Melbourne.
This is the after-show cabaret at the 2003 Comedy Festival, Adam Hills is compering and he's just shown off his fake foot.
A Canadian cowboy pushes his way between the red velvet curtains, pushes back his curtains of dark hair and starts a short set.
It was Glenn Wool, it was fifteen minutes long and it was unforgettably funny.
Since then Glenn Wool has been firmly on my list of comedians-I-will-go-to-see-whatever. (Adam Hills is still on that list too). I've seen him in a cavern in Edinburgh, in a converted church in Norwich and now I've seen him at the Norwich Playhouse. One of the reasons I find him so watchable is his uniquely dramatic, almost Shakespearean, delivery style - from rich bellow to falsetto whisper, sometimes within the same sentence.
So given how good I think he is, I suppose I should be surprised that I haven't seen him on the telly. In his latest set he mentions going out to LA to try to get into films and I could definitely see him in the kind of comedy film roles which Russell Brand, Simon Pegg and Ricky Gervais have cornered, so why don't I?
It may be to do with the material - which, while very funny, is not exactly made for television (he joked that you don't see his sort of stuff on "Live at the Apollo"). Having said that, on several occasions at the end of a routine which, on the surface, could appear to offend pretty much everybody he pointed out that he had crafted it so carefully that it wasn't actually offensive to anybody.
So it may be to do with the man - quite a lot of the set involved brushes with authority from which Glenn did not emerge as the kind of man who would take well to being asked to do another take.
Whatever the reason, over the course of the evening I got the impression that I'm not the only one who's surprised he's not more well-known, the rest of the audience and Glenn Wool seemed to be surprised too.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Mark Watson: Wouldn't want to sit where you're sitting
Mark Watson gives the impression of being the kind of person who wouldn't enjoy going to a comedy gig. If he didn't happen to be onstage being the comedian, I don't think he'd be there at all.
Which might seem a strange thing to say about a comedian.
But I've seen Mark Watson at the Norwich Playhouse before and, as I waited for the show to start, I was looking around me. Because last time I saw him there he started off the gig sitting in the audience. He's not the most unusual-looking bloke and literally no-one realised he was there. To his obvious joy he had been able to eavesdrop on several 'settling-down-to-watch-comedy' conversations before speaking up and starting.
And the start was a very amusing and reassuring soliloquy about how we could all relax because the show was going to be funny. The general gist was that it was going to be moderately funny in places, very funny in others - but, basically, funny. As I remember it, it wasn't until he'd set these expectations that he actually took to the stage.
Of course, he can't do that anymore.
Now he's on the telly, he'd be spotted straight away if he sat in the audience. But I had a hunch he would do something similar - and he did. I won't spoil it and say what, in case you're going to see the show. Suffice to say I felt very smug for working it out. And, as before, when he revealed himself he spent the first part of the show managing our expectations again.
Unlike Reginald D.Hunter's "My comedy isn't as cuddly as I look on the telly" warning, Mark Watson wanted to tell us that he was trying out new material. This was a good warning - not just because it was funny but because it was necessary. Instead of seeing the "Request Stops" show we were expecting, he was taking the opportunity afforded by his success in Norwich to try a new show called "The Information".
The set included some great sections and even, to everyone's surprise, a song. Like all 'new material' shows, some of it worked and some of it didn't (in my opinion, the song didn't) but the weird thing was, that after significant success on stage and screen, Mark Watson seemed to be trying to find his "thing" as a comedian.
And the thing is, I think he's already found it. No other comedian I've seen approaches a comedy gig with so much empathy for the audience. Unlike Adam Hills, who seems to be focused on making sure everyone has a good time, Mark Watson seems to be focused on making sure no-one has a terrible, possibly even psychologically damaging, time. It sounds odd, but it can be very, very funny. And it's a unique perspective which provides him with some wonderful material and a unique style of delivery - full of fabulously self-doubting asides. I say stick with it.
Which might seem a strange thing to say about a comedian.
But I've seen Mark Watson at the Norwich Playhouse before and, as I waited for the show to start, I was looking around me. Because last time I saw him there he started off the gig sitting in the audience. He's not the most unusual-looking bloke and literally no-one realised he was there. To his obvious joy he had been able to eavesdrop on several 'settling-down-to-watch-comedy' conversations before speaking up and starting.
And the start was a very amusing and reassuring soliloquy about how we could all relax because the show was going to be funny. The general gist was that it was going to be moderately funny in places, very funny in others - but, basically, funny. As I remember it, it wasn't until he'd set these expectations that he actually took to the stage.
Of course, he can't do that anymore.
Now he's on the telly, he'd be spotted straight away if he sat in the audience. But I had a hunch he would do something similar - and he did. I won't spoil it and say what, in case you're going to see the show. Suffice to say I felt very smug for working it out. And, as before, when he revealed himself he spent the first part of the show managing our expectations again.
Unlike Reginald D.Hunter's "My comedy isn't as cuddly as I look on the telly" warning, Mark Watson wanted to tell us that he was trying out new material. This was a good warning - not just because it was funny but because it was necessary. Instead of seeing the "Request Stops" show we were expecting, he was taking the opportunity afforded by his success in Norwich to try a new show called "The Information".
The set included some great sections and even, to everyone's surprise, a song. Like all 'new material' shows, some of it worked and some of it didn't (in my opinion, the song didn't) but the weird thing was, that after significant success on stage and screen, Mark Watson seemed to be trying to find his "thing" as a comedian.
And the thing is, I think he's already found it. No other comedian I've seen approaches a comedy gig with so much empathy for the audience. Unlike Adam Hills, who seems to be focused on making sure everyone has a good time, Mark Watson seems to be focused on making sure no-one has a terrible, possibly even psychologically damaging, time. It sounds odd, but it can be very, very funny. And it's a unique perspective which provides him with some wonderful material and a unique style of delivery - full of fabulously self-doubting asides. I say stick with it.
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