Andy Hamilton is perhaps best known for his appearances on comedy panel shows such as Have I Got News for You and QI. He also co-wrote the television sitcom Outnumbered and, before that, had a distinguished career writing comedy shows for radio, such as People Are Revolting and Old Harry’s Game (in which he also played the role of Satan!). His latest stand-up show, An Evening With Andy Hamilton, presents a mix of stand-up comedy and the chance for the audience to ask him about anything, except algebra (which, he recounted, caused his show in Oxford to be 6 hours long!).
Hamilton took to the stage and greeted the audience with, “Hello Manch…no, wait, this is Salford, it’s different from Manchester isn’t it?” Having made that distinction clear, he may have already ingratiated himself with the locals in the audience, although his very affable stage persona made that easy for any audience member, no matter where they are from. “Here I am in Media City,” he continued, “but it isn’t really a city. There’s no cathedral. They do have a Nando’s though!” Hamilton was certainly warming up his comedy chops but did promise that there would be absolutely no mention of Brexit this evening. Mainly, as he elaborated, “because I don’t want to say something here which affects the negotiations. I don’t want to be blamed for a bad deal. The government’s doing that well enough without my help.”
From here, Hamilton decided to do some ‘audience research’ to find out more about who was in the house this evening. Audience members were asked to raise their hands when he said where they recognised him from, many recognised him from his television panel show appearances, but the majority remembered him from his radio work. “You’re a very Radio 4 audience,” he remarked, “you won’t criticise at the time but will write a strongly worded letter afterwards,” he added with a chuckle. Hamilton then explained how the evening would work: the audience would, in effect, shape the content of the evening by asking him questions about anything, except algebra, and the one question which every comedian is asked by journalists: “What’s your favourite joke?” Anything else, however, was fair game. Taking questions from audience members who raised their hands, Hamilton chose the first person to ask a question: “When did you first find out you could entertain people?” Hamilton mentioned that he came from a very funny, hardworking family: “I’m the middle-class child of working class parents!”
The next question was for Hamilton to reveal who his greatest hero was. I'll leave you guessing in case you wish to ask the same question yourself! Question three was about how Hamilton got into TV work: “Through radio,” he replied. The fourth question was about the most embarrassing moment Hamilton had experienced with two further questions before the interval, one about writing the Old Harry’s Game radio series (“It’s great fun,” Hamilton said) and the other asking how he would like to be remembered: “At all would be nice!” he quipped. Before leaving the stage for the interval, Hamilton asked that if anyone had more questions for the second act, that they should write the question on a piece of paper and leave them at the front of the stage as not everyone would feel comfortable about raising their hands to ask a question. With that, he left for the interval.
In the second half, Hamilton proceeded to gather up some of the questions which had been left on the stage. One was about the use of swearing to which Hamilton explained that he didn’t swear onstage, or off it for that matter, as himself, only if he was quoting other people. As a writer, he explained, using swearing is too easy, “it weakens its impact. It has to feel authentic and if it is constantly used it loses its effect.” A valid point, perhaps, and Hamilton certainly demonstrated an ability to tell stories which didn’t rely on swearing (although he did use some when relating what other people said). There were a couple of further questions before the evening was brought to a close.
The show was highly entertaining, and Hamilton really does possess a very affable stage persona. The stories he told about himself and his career were genuinely funny, and his timing was spot-on. The show is well worth catching while it is on tour, not just because Hamilton is a very fine comedian but because of the uniqueness of the format, with different questions coming from different audiences, it is fair to say that no two nights are the same.
Reviewer - Andrew Marsden
on - 14/5/19
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