For those who don’t immediately recognise the name Paul Sinha, he is probably best known as “The Sinnerman” from the ITV daytime quiz show The Chase. He is also in the top 5 quiz players in the UK and more relevant to this review he has been a stand-up comedian for almost 20 years. The Frog And Bucket played host to his ‘Shout Out To My Ex’ show which has been touring for the last year or so – the second time he has performed the show in Manchester.
The show started promptly at 8:00pm and Sinha was immediately announced to the stage, meaning there was no support act but Paul would be entertaining us for the whole evening opening the show by talking about his previous show where unusually he performed a stand-up routine about how happy he was in his life. He was in a serious relationship for the first time in many years; he was a quiz champion, a comedian and one of the ITV Chasers. However, no sooner had the show finished its run he received the news that his boyfriend at the time was in fact straight – something he was clearly not expecting. This show essentially picked up from that point in his life, albeit that we get to delve back into his past during the 1.5 hours.
A key element of Sinha’s comedy is the level of empathy that he receives from the audience for what is a series of very unfortunate events in his life and there is no doubt that he had much of this from the sellout Frog And Bucket crowd. He rattled through hilarious stories of drunken nights out, social media rows, the humiliation at the hands of a fellow stand-up on The Chase with such ease that we cannot help but become emotionally involved, but then he takes it a stage further with his experiences that are even more intimate and private.
Sinha has a very interesting style that combines both self-deprecation and confidence at various stages of the show, but what is very clear is that these are stories from the heart and he is very much a flawed character. He has a brain that is packed full of general knowledge facts that make him one of the best quizzers in the country but he certainly doesn’t have all of the answers to life.
One of my favourite anecdotes was how he lost two friendships all within the space of a few days – one with his childhood friend and the other with fellow comedian Lee Hurst. The 20 year association with Hurst being ruined by a tweet being sent after hitting a speed bump as a passenger in his sister’s car, followed by his loyal bunch of Twitter followers wading in so hard that there was no opportunity to recover.
It feels a little sad that Paul Sinha is probably less well known for his skills as a stand-up comedian than he is for his other jobs, yet this is probably his biggest talent and certainly where he is most entertaining. He refers to this show as being “the best one he has ever written” and it is hard to disagree – brilliant writing and delivery and I am very much looking forward to the next one.
Reviewer – John Fish
A key element of Sinha’s comedy is the level of empathy that he receives from the audience for what is a series of very unfortunate events in his life and there is no doubt that he had much of this from the sellout Frog And Bucket crowd. He rattled through hilarious stories of drunken nights out, social media rows, the humiliation at the hands of a fellow stand-up on The Chase with such ease that we cannot help but become emotionally involved, but then he takes it a stage further with his experiences that are even more intimate and private.
Sinha has a very interesting style that combines both self-deprecation and confidence at various stages of the show, but what is very clear is that these are stories from the heart and he is very much a flawed character. He has a brain that is packed full of general knowledge facts that make him one of the best quizzers in the country but he certainly doesn’t have all of the answers to life.
One of my favourite anecdotes was how he lost two friendships all within the space of a few days – one with his childhood friend and the other with fellow comedian Lee Hurst. The 20 year association with Hurst being ruined by a tweet being sent after hitting a speed bump as a passenger in his sister’s car, followed by his loyal bunch of Twitter followers wading in so hard that there was no opportunity to recover.
It feels a little sad that Paul Sinha is probably less well known for his skills as a stand-up comedian than he is for his other jobs, yet this is probably his biggest talent and certainly where he is most entertaining. He refers to this show as being “the best one he has ever written” and it is hard to disagree – brilliant writing and delivery and I am very much looking forward to the next one.
Reviewer – John Fish
on – 30/9/18
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