Comedy Tonight

January 5th

Comedy Tonight

I’ve written many times about the escape from reality one can find by going to the theatre. Yesterday, as Australian bush fires continued on their devastating path and as we contemplate a possible expansion of  conflict between the US and Iran, I was sitting in the Nottingham Playhouse laughing at one of the oldest jokes you can imagine. You know the one, about how the forest  is full of “ghosties and ghoulies”.

Innuendo and double entendre deployed with elan by a great old pro.

I wasn’t alone in my mirth, hundreds of people of all ages had shed the troubles of the world for a couple of hours, to sit in the dark and laugh.

My third pantomime of the season and Polly’s fourth, (she attended Mansfield Palace Theatre which is a place I won’t go because of the management tolerating racism), this time to witness a production of Sleeping Beauty, which made a nice change as all the others were Cinderella!

The thing that you get with a Playhouse panto is tradition. The pedigree of pantomime production there, under the skilful and watchful eye of Kenneth Alan Taylor,  goes back more than 35 years.

Proper story telling, excellent acting, dancing and singing, hilarious set pieces and even a board dropping down with the words of the song we all sing along too.

Magical. Simple. Professional. Pitch perfect panto.

The thing you don’t get is the shoehorning in of modern political messages. No satire, just silliness.

The tickets were a gift from a cast member who, although a total stranger, had followed our journey with Gil. It was a thank you for adopting him as she and her husband had also adopted a Lurcher. How kind was that? We even got a back stage tour afterwards which Polly enjoyed as she got to sit in the Fairies carriage and meet the rabbit who so hilariously avoided ending up in Nurse Tilly’s rabbit pie.

It was a lovely reminder of how there are still some nice people in the world. Spend any time on social media and you’d think the world was populated only by angry, vindictive and hateful folk and yet it was via social media this random act of kindness was born.

I have to say, with regard to social media, I sometimes succumb to the dark side of the force and may engage in badinage which could border on the tasteless, but I did manage to avoid the long queue of people waiting to make jokes about the death of Derek Acorah yesterday.

I think it’s OK to laugh about death, but perhaps you do need to wait a little before laughing at the person who died? They have grieving families too, even the charlatans and frauds.


By the way, if you’re listening Derek and you run into Mary ask her how Dick is please.



Laugh and the world laughs with you…

Laughter is the best medicine…unless you suffer with incontinence.

You know the Bible and The Quran both talk about laughter as being a positive thing and yet neither are books renowned for funny lines.

Anyway tonight I’m hoping to be laughing out loud quite a lot as I return to the theatre, this time the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. It is there I shall witness the creation of something that is at once of the moment, as is all theatre, but also allows a degree of nostalgia wallowing …you know why?

I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.

It’s a piece of radio history and I still love listening to old episodes, from those days when Humph was in the chair…saying things like:


After tasting the meat pies, Samantha said she liked Mr Dewhurst’s beef in ale; although she preferred his tongue in cider.

OR

Samantha tells me she has to nip out now as she's been invited to an exclusive club to meet a group of aristocrats. She's very excited to see where all the big knobs hang out. She says at such a posh function she and the other girls will probably end up trying to speak with plums in their mouths.


OR

Sven has to nip off to make sandwiches now for the builders he has working in his house. No matter how many times they ask for cheese and gourmet chutney, he always palms them off with relish.


OR introducing Sound Charades:


The master of the genre was undoubtedly Lionel Blair, and who will ever forget him, exhausted and on his knees, finishing off An Officer and a Gentleman in under two minutes?

OR

We particularly recall one very early show when Una Stubbs scored maximum points after the teams took only a few seconds to recognise her Fanny by Gaslight.



I’m sorry, but I do love a good double entendre.

No matter how gloomy things get, we all have a laugh in us - we just need a finger to tickle it out of us.


PS The joke that made Polly laugh the loudest yesterday:

Jerry The Jester is bending over examining a log and Nurse Tilly walks up behind him and says; “Jerry, you need a new bum, that one’s got a crack in it”.