As a near terminally polite nation, we’ll hold off yelling at people who, for instance, barge in front of us when queuing − all the while quietly seething. As a result, we do like a bit of a moan. On May 17, audiences at Comedy Hall get a chance to do just that.
The second half of Lee Hurst’s ‘Things That Make You Go Aaarggh!!!’ show is built entirely around Hurst’s hilarious and peerless improvisation skills. He deals with the pet hates and secret fears of the audience in a fearless off-the-cuff tour de force. It’s politically incorrect stroppiness, all delivered in the most endearing manner.
In the first half, the bald, mercurial funnyman treats the audience to some hilarious and cringemaking tales – a way of establishing his own grumpy credentials in the hopes of getting the audience to reveal their secret annoyances.
During the interval you’re invited to write your own gripes on a piece of paper and drop them into a bucket. And in the second half, Hurst picks them out and improvises around them. It takes a brave performer to allow the whole second half to be dictated by his audience and to change every night − but Hurst turns even the inevitable awkward ‘foot in mouth’ moments into comedy gold.
Hurst has spent years touring and on-stage at his own Bethnal Green based comedy club. And the study has paid off. He’s a master of ad-libbing, pulling laughs out of the air using armchair-psychology and redirection if necessary.
Audiences know Hurst as the entirely football ignorant guest on ‘They Think it’s All Over‘ (BBC1) from the nineties, ‘Have I Got News For You’ (BBC1/Dave), and more recently as a member of the panel on Channel 5’s ‘The Wright Stuff‘. He began his working life as a telephone engineer, but grew into comedy and became the warm-up man on ‘Have I Got News For You’ on which he later guested. He’s also appeared on ‘The What In The World‘, ‘The Stand Up Show‘ and created ‘Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment‘ for Channel 5.
‘Time Out’ dubbed him ‘unfailingly funny’. And we agree!
Lee Hurst is at Comedy Hall in Tiverton on 17th May at 8pm. Click here to buy tickets.
Phone: 07931 151545
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