Review: Jon Richardson: It’s Not Me, It’s You – Stockton Arc

Jon Richardson

Jon Richardson brings to the stage a very innovative nature of comedy. A welcome change from many modern comedians, his delivery alone is quite inspiring. He carries you along his routines with recurrent charm and a pleasant charisma, his range extends from light-hearted chatter with the audience to a handful of deep belly laugh gags and stories.

It is a shame, however, that on this particular night the light-hearted banter overstayed its welcome. There was nothing wrong with the crowd; they were cheerful and responsive. But Richardson started chatting to one woman and seemed pretty determined to finish the conversation despite her reservations. He would have bettered from giving up and carrying on his set, but after about ten minutes of trying other members of the crowd started joking about the whole situation with Richardson still at the local banter stage. Fortunately he managed to play off it all and finally got into his actual set, which was very much worth the wait.

Richardson’s style of comedy is very clear and flexible – his intentions are easy to grasp, his material is intelligent and logical, though he isn’t afraid to mix his set up. Some comics will stay resolute to their material, but Richardson will on occasion drift out of one story into something else and back again – but this really works toward his character.

The stories weren’t of the heart touching or moral kind. You went to his show to laugh and nothing more. Richardson isn’t trying to change the world with what he says like some comics might do. He just wants to get off his chest the things that annoy him and the things that please him, and leave the audience to enjoy the experience.

For Richardson it may have benefited him if he didn’t come back for a Q&A encore considering the tricky early stages. He will probably admit that ‘what colour is your paintwork?’ is one of the most confusing questions he has ever been asked, and we didn’t blame him for calling it a night there – any comedian would leave after that. But Richardson always gives his set his all and you really can’t ask for anything more.

Richardson might have struggled in the opening and the encore, but this isn’t part of his material. His actual show, in between these two minor hiccups, was a flawless success; admirable and well deserving of praise.