Review: John Scott, John Whale, Nick Cranston and Gary Delaney – The Barnes, Sunderland
Gary Delaney
Having never previously been to a Grinning Idiot comedy night I didn’t really know what to expect, but I wasn’t disappointed. The event was held upstairs in The Barnes in Sunderland, and proved to be a nice little venue that really added to the feel of the evening. Tonight’s show got under way with compere Dan Willis. Like most good comperes, there was an instant interaction with the crowd, with three members of the audience being singled out straight away – the mullet, the ginger and a nerd. It was going to be a long night for these three lads.
The venue was, by no means, a sellout. This, however, was highlighted by Willis as he incorporated it into a joke, asking people to leave their phones on and if any one rings just put them on speaker phone and place them down on the empty seat next to them. I enjoyed the whimsical way in which Willis delivered his routine to the crowd – it had an edge of Eddie Izzard about it, and, at times, seemed effortless.
Opening the night was Gary Delaney. Delaney is quite simply one of the best one liner comedians I have ever seen, and, for me, what sets him apart from the rest is his deliciously dark humour, my favourite kind. He had such great confidence as he stood there on stage – hand in pocket just rattling these brilliant jokes off – but more importantly Delaney had a great little grin on his face every time he dropped one of his more outrageous jokes.
What was so good about his set was how well it flowed. He would tell a risky joke, then pull it in with a lighter joke about being a child; then, just when the crowd had recovered, he would push the boundaries even further. My only concern would be that, if Delaney were to make it onto television, he might have to water down his act just to be acceptable to a Daily Mail audience that love nothing more than complaining to OFCOM instead of appreciating good comedy.
In the middle section of the night Willis announced we were going to see two ‘up and coming’ comedians, both of which were local lads. First up was Nick Cranston. Nick had a mixed bag of material. His colloquial accent went down well with what can only be described as a very good comedy audience; he had some nice one-liners; and did a good observational piece on television comedy. Nick is definitely a comedian that has the potential, he just need to polish his act.
Next up was South Shields comic John Whale. John was my favourite act of the night. His dry sense of humour and the slow sense of delivery was top class, and he reminded me a lot of Stewart Lee in that sense. He talked in great deal about Raoul Moat and Josef Fritzl – not the lightest of subjects – but both topics were excellently delivered as he often referred to his little red book to use quotes from other people on the topics. Whale’s whole stage presence was just superb. He could read the audience so well and every time he said something that got a big laugh he would choose somebody in the audience to give a cheeky little wink to. Simply brilliant.
The final act of the night was Scotsman John Scott. Scott had the domineer of a comedian who had been doing this a long time. He made it look incredibly easy and looked relaxed at all times. He went down the road of telling jokes about the North East and Scotland, something which always goes down well – everybody likes to laugh at their own now and again. His set was very relevant and his whole time on stage just seemed to fly by with some huge laughs coming from the crowd.
Scott finished off the show by thanking everybody for coming and encouraging them to support this event; a sentiment I re-iterate as it was a great night and a real bargain at only £10. The night on a whole was a big success with four very strong comedians; the crowd were great and very respectable of the acts; and, to top it all off, the pints weren’t too expensive either.
If you’re looking to see some Grinning Idiot comedy at The Barnes, the next show is on Saturday 6thNovember, when Phil Nichol, Ian Moore and Richard Morton will be performing. Tickets are available from here.
