Review: Phil Ellis, XS Malarkey, Manchester
‘Legitimate comedian’ Phil Ellis made a fabulous return to XS Malarkey this week for, in his own words, ‘a rollercoaster ride of emotion’ – while wearing a coat that kept getting him mistaken for a doorman.
Foster’s Comedy Panel Prize Award-winner Ellis – XS veteran and Manchester circuit stalwart – headlined the club with a gloriously shambolic set, and a very literally precarious finish that required three audience members to stabilise a tower of tables.
Ellis’ whole set was happily, if precariously, balanced on the edge of being absolute chaos. But it never tipped. Ellis seems to have hit upon an incredibly delicate balance that works for no real reason: his act seems genuinely shambolic (rather than an attempt to feign a pseudo-endearing persona, or a gimmick to carry an otherwise weak set). But it does work, and it’s very, very funny.
Ellis seems truly to be championing a wonderfully muddled act that is funnier and more enjoyable that you’d think it should be.
The gig frequently zipped off on tangents that provide sufficient evidence in favour of the brilliance of live comedy in appreciative clubs. The gig started with Ellis searching for his four-years ex-girlfriend on Facebook on someone else’s phone, and subsequently adding several unknown names.
At one point Ellis left the stage to usher an audience member out of the toilets and back to the show – which comprised an very awkward thirty seconds while Elis waited in the doorway for said toilet-goer to finish.
His anecdote about Chipsticks and the upcoming refurbishment of a Co-op was mildly bleak and fittingly rambling, while utterly hilarious.
We the audience had been given prior warning to the possibility of furniture stacking should the gig go awry. Pleasingly, Ellis ran over time before he’d even begun dragging tables and chairs onto the stage. ‘This is extra’, he told us.
What was, of course, fantastic is that the whole audience was rooting for Ellis as he pulled audience members up on stage to ensure he didn’t fall to his death as he climbed the stack. He closed the gig in as suave a fashion as is possible when tensely lying on a table holding a pint and a mic, before slithering back down to safety and a very thorough applause.
You can see Ellis again at the end of the month at Dead Cat Comedy’s new monthly comedy night, MACE (Manchester’s Alternative Comedy Experience) at Kosmonaut on 29 January. It’s a terrific line-up featuring Gein’s Family Giftshop and Red Redmond as well as the marvellous Mr Ellis, so it’s a show not to be missed!
