Frankie Boyle, Cambridge Corn Exchange
Posted: Tue 25 November, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Reviews(ish) 6 Comments »Over the weekend, we went to see Frankie Boyle’s live show at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. Never heard of him? He’s one of the primary panellists (and probably the most consistently rude/offensive/’edgy’/dark one) on BBC’s “Mock The Week”, which we’ve always enjoyed, so we figured it was worth giving a go to the live show.
All in all, it was OK. There was a significant amount (I’d say probably 40-50%) that we’d already heard on Mock The Week, or other appearances he’s made, which I have to say I find pretty disappointing. Comparing his show to that of Dara O’Briain (who we’ve now seen twice) it was obvious that Frankie Boyle’s show was a lot more scripted, without the audience involvement that O’Briain brings to his show. Boyle’s conversations with the audience felt like they were pretty much a template, there wasn’t anything that flowed from those conversations, and so it all felt quite stilted in some ways.
Also, he was only on stage for seventy minutes. No encore at all – just a “Thanks, you’ve been great, bye.” at 10pm. Fortunately there’d also been a warm-up act, so it wasn’t a rip-off of Sarah Silverman levels – but I suspect we’d have felt a lot more annoyed if we hadn’t only paid £10 each for the tickets. (thanks to a ‘restricted view’ that really wasn’t)
So yeah, it was OK. I don’t think we’d bother going to see him again – in direct contrast to having seen Dara O’Briain twice in three years, as well as having the DVD of his live show – but it was OK entertainment for a Saturday night.
But MTW is scripted (and not all by the panellists), no? If not, it always seems that way to me…
My son saw him in Hull and had similar comments. He said that the warm up was excellent but didn’t catch his name – did you?
MTW – scripted or not it’s very funny. Also worth seeing is the DVD of a “not for tv version” plus uncensored shows that were broadcast
I suspect that the MTW panel may be given prompts before the show, but I don’t think it’s scripted (at least, that certainly wasn’t the impression that I got when I went to see a recording).
But you do tend to find that if you’re at all interested in comedy, you start to see repeated material more and more, from all comedians…maybe if they haven’t got anything new to say, they shouldn’t say it? Just a personal gripe from someone who adores her comedy.
John, his support was Martin ‘BigPig’ Mor, from Northern Ireland.
And yes, he was good – certainly a more impressive act than Frankie Boyle’s. Still bloody rude and sweary, of course, but that’s no bad thing.
[…] It struck me that it’s curious how expectations differ when going out to be a band compared to a comedian. With a band, you’re generally hoping that most of the set will comprise songs you know and, presumably, like (why else would you be there?) with a smatter ditties from the latest album. With a comedian, you’d prefer not to hear a large amount of stuff you’ve already heard – Lyle posted on this point recently. […]