Review: Bramall Comedy Night, Scott Bennett, Angela Barnes & Gary Delaney
Autumn 2015 signals a new season of comedy at the University of Birmingham’s Bramall Hall with the second event doing predictably well in terms of its line up, with Scott Bennett, Angela Barnes and Gary Delaney performing.
The night was compèred by likeable Yorshireman Scott Bennett, who recently performed his debut stand up hour at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, tickling audiences with anecdotes about his recently retired and slightly mental father. His stories are instantly easy to relate to, speaking of elements of family life that most of us can sift through and relate to at least parts of. Bennett clearly has had a lot of experience as a club host, with an ability to communicate effortlessly with multiple age groups within an audience.
Gary Delaney © Andy Hollingworth Archive
Angela Barnes has returned from August’s Edinburgh Festival with a confidence to her new material that is pleasing to see. Deeply personal and bordering on self-depreciating, Barnes is a comic who knows how to set her audience at ease, with a presence that does not overbear but lines that sometimes cut delightfully sharp. Angela is the voice in all of our heads and it is a relief to hear someone openly talk about hating things that everyone else claims to love. She’s sweet, friendly and endlessly relatable, but with an undeniably wicked streak.
Gary Delaney is the first comedian to return to the Bramall Hall comedy night, speaking of how much he enjoyed the venue and audience last year. Once again Delaney amazed with his impressive back catalogue of memorised material, which he effectively manipulated to suit the feel of the room. Though perhaps a bit impersonal at times due the nature of being a one-liner comic, Gary successfully incorporated technology into his set which made for a refreshing change. He clearly enjoyed the gig and this made the performance feel a little outside of the norm, with Delaney’s infectious positivity ensuring that his whole audience was on side.
Next was Gary Delaney, a man who I think understands comedy really well; probably because he works with it on such a small scale, as a one-liner comic. It must be a difficult juggling act performing singular lines to an audience, but Gary was able to judge the room excellently and adjust his material to suit it. As well as the obvious ability to memorise such a vast amount of material, which is often timing and word-order dependent so incredibly easy to get wrong, Delaney also showed great skill at being able to think on his feet by linking jokes fluently and responding to the reactions of people in the crowd. I’d never seen a one-liner comic live before, and though I think I would struggle sitting through a whole hour of solid puns and word-play, I still thoroughly enjoyed the set.