COMEDY REVIEW: Lambs To The Slaughter - Tribeca, Manchester.

The Greater Manchester Fringe Festival's programme is varied and diverse; not only do they invite esablished local, national and even international artistes to perform for the festival, but they are also more than willing to accommodate those who are fledglings in their chosen field, taking one tentative footstep into the spotlight maybe for the first time, or maybe as a slight change in direction from their usual pursuit. Lambs To The Slaughter fits nicely into this category. It is a comedy evening of 11 acts, all of whom are on the first rung of a long and precarious ladder. These comedians are at the very start of their stand-up careers, and all come from different backgrounds are areas of experience. A GP, an actress, and a trainee fireman are just three of the jobs these comedians do by day.

Without a programme or knowledge of the acts, then I am guessing at names, but hopefully they will be correct....

Stephen Armstrong was our host and compere for the evening. His style was unmittigating and bullet-like; almost attacking the front row with questions about their jobs etc, desperate to find something of comedy value in it. The bar was open throughout and made quite a lot of noise, which didn't help, but one did feel that he was 'winging it' a little too much. His high energy and speedy vocal delivery did make it rather difficult at times, and along with poor mic technique, his compering fell somewhat flat sadly.

The 11 fledgling comedians and comediennes aspiring to greater things and simply 'having a go' this evening were all very different in their approach to stand-up.

Ben Chevlin was first, and talked about his having a stroke and his now quite obvious disability this has left him with. His routine was quite short and well paced, and I take my hat off to him for not only going first, but for not letting his disability stop him from doing what he obviously enjoys.

Zoe Matthews took the mic next. A very confident and well-spoken persona, judging her vocal level easily and had some nice banter.

Sav Chin came on next, appearing somewhat effete and with some very crude and lewd comedy. His style of humour more appropriate perhaps for a late night LGBTQ Drag party.

Darren, a black comedian from Essex and Lenny Henry look-a-like, did his set about just this: being black, from Essex and being a Lenny Henry look-a-like.

Tommy was the penultimate act before the interval. An older gentleman portraying an even older caricature, he was one of only two who had found themselves a proper gimmick in order to stand out from the crowd. Here he was the typical comedy old man with glasses on the end of his nose, walking stick, flat cap and a dodgy walk. If he were to perfect this, even without opening his mouth any, it would be extremely funny, but as it was, the caricature still needs some work. What he did was funny, and I think I detected a slight Liverpudlian accent in there too. If he pushes this even more, he will have found hmself a modern day 'Benny Hill' style character (without the overt sexism of course) which would work well for him. And everyone loves a Scouse accent!

Ange, the last befoe the interval chatted about being a Boltonian, and being a  33 year old Catholic.

Vicky Foster came first after a short break. Poking fun at her own illness , being bi-polar, joking about manic depression in general, and of being from Bury. A strong opener.

Dr. Raj, our NHS GP came next. He had a lovely manner (years of being a GP no doubt!) and was very easy to listen to; rather soothing in fact. His well spoken, quietly confident manner was a welcome change from some other quite jittering and manic performances. His routine obviously concentrated on his occupation (which I feel sure he could have found funnier anecdotes for.....), and his skin colour (which is now becoming extremely passee. Every comedian of colour is doing just that.) However, I do believe there is a future for Dr Raj, and enjoyed his set and his style.

??? - I did not hear the name - or failed to understand the name - of the next act, a comedienne who sounded very American, who joked about Valentines Cards, her boyfriend and losing weight.

Pete Craven was the penultimate act, and was the only other comedian to find a mannerism or gimmick which worked for him. Here he was laconic, deadpan, and leaned casually on the mic stand. Unsmiling and quite cynical. Of course all of these could have been pushed even more to create a distinct character, and it wouldn't have been too much if he had done so.  His drole, monotone spoke one-liners, some VERY funny, and the one-liners were also a very good idea for this style of comedian. Sadly, half way through his set he changed tactics, and gave a sprawling monologue about Michael Jackson which became contentious and distasteful. Stick with the one-liners and the character!

Vicky Green completed the 11 acts, and she poked fun at her own sexuality... a lesbian turned bisexual. She had a nice finishing tag-line to conclude the evening.

In all the 12 acts (MC included) there was very little originality of material. We have all heard many, many routines already from comedians complaining about celebrities, themselves, their sexuality, their colour, their disability, or social commentaries on modern life. Choosing such subjects to bring fresh and original humour to is incredibly difficult sadly. My over-riding advice would be to find something different which you can work to your advenatge. All the best comedians throughout history have all had a certain something which makes them instantly recognisable and unique to them. Tommy Cooper, Morecombe and Wise, Dave Allen etc etc... That being said however, these acts are all very new to the world of comedy, and for some, just simply standing up on stage on their own and talking to a crowd of strangers would be a major achievement, and that should not ever be diminished or forgotten. It was a very enjoyable 2 hours in their company and thank you for having the guts to stand up there a 'give it a go!'.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 27/7/19