Review: MACE, Kosmonaut, Manchester
Red Redmond and Dead Cat Comedy seem to work so tirelessly hard to bring wonderfully alternative acts to the Manchester comedy circuit.
New, fresh-faced monthly comedy night MACE (Manchester’s Alternative Comedy Emporium, let’s not forget) is another platform doing exactly that. With a debut show that featured Phil Ellis and Gein’s Family Giftshop, MACE has already set out to be a leading lady in Manchester’s figurative (and literal) underground comedy scene.
Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year 2015 Tom Little opened MACE’s second show with a brilliant, loudly awkward set. Little dissected traditional joke conventions to beautifully matter-of-fact effect, and reassured us the Family Fortunes boxset ‘lives up to the hype’ in one hilariously built-up routine.
His material is somehow simultaneously incredibly sharply written and bluntly delivered; his routines are very funny, completely inventive, sitting perilously on the fence between allowing an audience to think they know what’s coming, and pulling something unexpectedly bizarre out of the bag.
A bleary-eyed Liam Pickford lamented today’s absence of the diphtheria parties of the past, and treated the audience to the occasional bout of beautifully articulate ad libbing. Pickford has an ability to deliver cynical, bleakly funny observations with a wonderful sort of dry poetry.
Comedy improv troupe Discount Comedy Checkout delivered Whose Line Is It Anyway-style scenes and sketches relying on audience suggestions, and were met with big laughs.
The night’s headline act Carl Hutchinson might have been the first to admit he perhaps wasn’t an alternative comedian (as MACE’s name might suggest he would be) – but Hutchinson nevertheless provided a very funny, considered and arguably a little bit alternative set of observations, historical and wrestling trivia, and a very clear likability.
Next month’s MACE line-up features the (both) completely brilliant Mae Martin and Kiri Pritchard-McLean – who appears alongside Liam Williams at The Big Green Comedy Show gig at The Dancehouse on the 23 April, in support of The Green Party.
Snaffle a ticket to April’s MACE show at any and all expense: this is another absolute bargain of a gig.
MACE runs on the last Thursday of every month at Kosmonaut, Manchester. Follow Dead Cat Comedy on Twitter for more information and updates.
