Carry On Laughing
Red Raw
Newcastle Stand Comedy Club
Wednesday 9th August 2017
Red Raw is the evening in which up to 10 acts do a
short set and try out new material. Some of these will be new, others are much
more established. In the past we have found the quality no more variable than
many comedy nights and for just £3 it is a bargain.
Indeed on one previous
occasion we enjoyed a certain Frankie Boyle as the headliner, who proceeded to
perform a full set and try out the new material for his arena tour.
The website warns “We hold
back 150 tickets for sale at the venue door on the door on the night – please
note that due to massive demand, tickets sold on the door are limited to one
per customer. It’s advisable to be there for doors opening as this show
regularly sells out!” To be honest we expected a mid-week session in August to
be fairly quiet however we got the last couple of seats 20 minutes before the
show started. We witnessed people cutting it fine without tickets being turned
away and those with tickets having to stand. Clearly an early arrival is
recommended.
Host for the evening was MikeMilligan. The Gateshead based comic had obviously spent a fair bit of time
observing the local charvas and got plenty of laughs out of it. A good host is
able to keep the energy up in the room between each act and Mike did a great
job of that.
The first act consisted of
four more acts. There was much observational comedy. Perhaps the slickness of
Michael McIntyre was replaced with genuine honesty and the show was no less funny
for that. With a show with 9 acts in total it does feel like a lucky dip. The
short sets mean no one hangs around too long if they’re not your cup of tea.
Each act gets laughter but the whole point of a try out night is to try stuff
out.
We had John McDonald
discussing the birth of his latest child, Nick Cranston highlighting life with
disability, Stephen Waller was having fun in Brussels and poor Amy Vreeke has just graduated with a Theatre
Studies degree and found herself working in an office. It was Stephen’s first
show but you’d never had guessed.
The second act opened with Darlington’s Adam Cowley followed by Alphabetti’s Lauren Stone who used to
provide sound effects in a circus. The laughs then continued with Matty Reed
plugging his panel show which is happening on Sunday with a bit of audience
insults thrown in.
The final headline slot went
to John Whale. When he was at his most surreal he reminded me of the great
Steve Wright (the comic not the DJ!).
So after 2.5 hours we had
many laughs and left the venue much happier than we started it. For £3 it had
been a success and that probably explains why it was the only venue in Newcastle that was sold out tonight.
Red Raw happens every
Wednesday at the venue on Newcastle’s
High Bridge. Details of the host and headliner are usually given
on the website: http://www.thestand.co.uk/venues/Newcastle
- advance tickets can also be bought through the website too.
Review: Stephen Oliver.
Disclaimer: The noise of the cheering as each act came on does mean we may have made a mistake with the acts names. Apologies if that's the case & we'll happily correct them!
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