Sat 27 May 2017
The acerbic and witty Jo Caulfield serves as the host for a solidly funny evening at the Stand, featuring four very different acts in its line-up.
The evening kicks off with Christopher MacArthur-Boyd, a young Glaswegian comic with a confident stage presence and delivery that alternates between laconic and animated. His self-deprecating routines about his failed relationship and being the least threatening Glaswegian you could possible hope to meet go down well with the audience. In particular, MacArthur-Boyd’s recounting of his trip to Australia, which works in a clever reference to that country’s racial tensions, and his climactic Scottish referendum routine, which has MacArthur-Boyd’s steadily mounting patriotic fervour brought down by a sharp punchline, both bring the house down. McArthur-Boyd is an impressive young talent with plenty of potential for the future.
Next up is Scottish-Canadian Heather Jordan Ross, whose initial jokes about growing up bisexual with her identical twin sister are well-received. However, the later section of Ross’ set concerning her using her rape as a basis for her comedy results in a more mixed reaction from the audience, with many appearing uneasy with the material. Whilst Ross is confident in her delivery of jokes centred around such a difficult subject matter, the material feels more appropriate for a longer one-woman show at the Fringe rather than a fifteen-minute set at a comedy club on a Saturday night.
Following Ross is Irish stand-up Johnny Candon, who is able to play off the Stand’s enthusiastic audience to great effect. Candon strikes gold with one unlucky young couple, who provide him with enough material to fill an hour-long show as well as enabling Candon to intertwine jokes about the couple with his own observations on childbirth and fatherhood. Whilst some of his other interactions with the audience receive a more muted response, Candon is still able to garner big laughs from the crowd with his ability to put down the occasional heckler in a solidly funny set.
The headlining act for the night is Londoner Rudi Lickwood, whose searingly funny, politically-incorrect jokes about race, women and just about everything else have the audience roaring with laughter, with one particular routine about being the only black guy in the room gaining the biggest laughs. However, the second half of Lickwood’s set has him making a serious point about how multiculturalism unites rather than separates British people – a marked tonal shift that if performed by a lesser comic would lead to an awkward conclusion. However, Lickwood’s sincerity as well as his ability to keep the audience laughing at potentially-divisive material help him to pull it off.