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Jon Richardson and Shappi Khorsandi |
Jon Richardson and Shappi Khorsandi, Exeter Northcott, Saturday 23rd January
By Jenna Richards
A loaner, a clean freak and a perfectionist - Jon Richardson has plenty of hooks on which to hang his comedy and he pulls off and effortlessly funny show.
Sharing the bill with Iranian funny-woman Shappi Korsandi, the Lancaster lad appears a little bemused as he walks on to the stage and feels compelled to apologise for taking an hour of our time.
But the hour chuckles by with plenty of amusing anecdotes.
Jon’s stories range from pretending to be cockney in the back of a London cab to being congratulated in an Italian restaurant on his pronunciation of the word ‘bruschetta’.
His routine spirals into loner confessions, he talks about his ineptitude with women, and his bachelor lifestyle, characterised by staying in and watching Home Alone 2!
My favourite was an anecdote of a first date, for which, with uncharacteristic abandon, he agreed to go ice-skating. The sight of him trying to impress while clinging to the side of the rink will amuse anyone who has ever looked a fool while trying to be cool. Then losing his balance, he lunges inappropriately at his date!
Jon is an exceptionally laid-back performer - he has the engaging capacity to meander on hilarious tangents, much to the enjoyment of his audience.
Next up was a female comedian whose numerous TV appearances and abundance of talent means she is on the cusp of household-name fame
Shappi Khorsandi is unusual in the world of comedy. She is Iranian born, but looks slightly Greek and sounds posh. She also has unique back story – few people can say their father was an Iranian satirist who fled to London when Ayatollah Khomeini came to power and had to hide his family from assassins.
Multiculturalism, the trials of motherhood and divorce feature heavily in her act. And she is wittiest when she merges these strands. Recalling the nurses suggesting her new-born baby (now a two year old) was mixed race, she argued: “The only time one can truly use that phrase is when referring to mermaids.”
Her jokes range from mainstream humour to hard-hitting political satire: “The Iranian regime strongly advocates free speech, but there is no freedom after you’ve spoken.”
Her routine is delivered in a self-mocking, laid-back style - but sometimes she is too relaxed. Chatting with the audience her banter scuttled down dead ends.
She arrived on stage clutching the end of a pint of larger and admitted she had planned to try new some new material but had forgotten her notes. She Instead she would rely on the prompts scrawled on her hand.
When show drew to a close, she had no idea how long she been on stage – apparently a symptom of ditsyness bought on by motherhood – the audience were fulfilled and happy to depart grinning from ear to ear after a superb night to top-class laughter.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:12 am
I seem to have been in minority re Shappi, but was rather disappointed. I did get a feeling that she had arrived thinking “it’s only exeter” and was clearly under-prepared and spent a lot of time scratching around the audience for ideas, without usual quick-wittedness I’d expect from a “professional” comedian. Some amusing anecdotes but found the move to motherhood jokes away from her usual lightweight politics a little sad.
Jon on the other hand was amusing, slick and well-observed. Might have seen a few more punch lines but then that’s not his style. I did enjoy his show a lot more- his ocd and self deprecating ramblings were very amusing- and I felt he had prepared far more professionally for his Exeter visit.