Review: Alan Carr, Yap, Yap, Yap, Newcastle City Hall
Extreme. It’s the new TV buzzword and Alan Carr is sick of it.
He’s sick of seeing telly programmes like Extreme Fishing With Robson Green, or The Jump, one of many ‘opportunities’ that Carr has declined since his last stand-up tour in 2011.
He’s sick of people having extreme points of view – like his mum frantically worrying about leaving the air freshener plugged in at home during a once-in-a-lifetime safari in Africa.
Carr even dips his toes into material about Middle Eastern countries like Oman, whose extreme laws means he has to ‘butch up’ whenever he visits.
It might sound like weighty material for a comic not known for his biting political satire, but it’s sugar-coated in the trademark bitchy humour that has won Carr thousands of fans across the UK.
One of the more interesting aspects of the show is Carr’s material about life as a celebrity. He tells us about how he can’t buy the reduced items in Tesco anymore because he’s famous and people are judging his shopping basket – which feels a little contrived if I’m honest.
But stories about getting lashed with Lionel Blair on Blackpool Pier, taking a hallucinogenic worm on the set of Chatty Man, and meeting the Queen at the Royal Variety Show bring out the everyman in Carr. He’s a bloke from Northampton who won the lottery of life.
Speaking of Chatty Man, Carr takes inspiration from his time on the show to have a good natter with the audience.
The sporadic chat with the crowd is an obvious segue into his next batch of material, but it adds a bit of warmth to the show and Carr generally does well with unwelcome contributions from the audience. Turns out shouting “dogging” and “ASDA” make you sound like a dick.
Ironically, at the top of the show, Carr tells us that this show is about how he’s sick of dicks having opinions. Yap, Yap, Yap is probably better described as 90, fly-by minutes in the company of one of Britain’s funniest comics.
That might sound a little extreme – but it’s true.
Date of live review: Friday 23 October 2015
