Is Masculinity in Crisis?

Is Masculinity in Crisis?

Demos,

Central London,

Thursday 16th May 2013

According to Labour MP and Shadow Health Minister, Diane Abbott MP, the male of the species is in crisis, buckling under the pressure of modern day life and uber educated, high flying, career women. Men now rely on “Viagra, Jack Daniels and various forms of violent and pornographic escapism” to keep it all together.

A myriad of issues are affecting the performance of boys from as early in life as their infant, primary and secondary school years. Even young intelligent boys are falling way behind without a trace at school. They are not being pushed to reach their full potential and often lack people in their home or school lives who will inspire them to do better. As a terrible consequence, as adults they are inevitably going to economically lag behind when it comes to making an honest living and being able to support themselves and provide for their families.

All this primarily, but not exclusively, some would argue is as a direct consequence of the feminisation of education which far, far too many boys just don’t take seriously due to the near total absence of male teachers in primary and secondary schools.

The dire fall out of this is there for all to see in society today. Have women taken on the role of men, whilst focusing on their high flying careers to the detriment of boys and the family unit?

Do boys in one parent situations, feel the need to go out and support their mother’s instead of carrying on their education? Can some of this be attributed to lack of male influences and mentors from infancy age for boys? Does Diane Abbott have a point and if so what do you see as the solution to the so called crisis of masculinity?

Diane Abbott MP was delivering a speech to mark the DEMOS think tank’s 20th anniversary.

Responses to Diane’s speech were given by:

Geoff Dench author of The Place of Men: Changing family culture in Britain ; Eleanor Mills Associate Editor of the Sunday Times; Harriet Sergeant author of Among the Hoods: My years with a teenage gang and David Goodhart Director of Demos (Chair)

©Tiemo Talk of the Town

17th May 2013

Nina Kristofferson’s Billie Holiday Story

Nina Kristofferson’s Billie Holiday Story *** 3/5

The Charing Cross Theatre
London WC2
Tuesday 14th May 2013

Starring Nina Kristofferson

The show runs daily 7.30pm at The Charing Cross Theatre, London, until 25th May 2013.

Tickets – £12-£35. Tel – 08444 930 650. For further information and to book click here

“The musical play is a brilliant cocktail of songs and stories from Billie Holiday’s life woven through the haunting memories that plagued her.

The show takes you through the high’s and lows of Billie Holiday’s career punctuation each story with some of her greatest hits like God Bless The Child, Good Morning Heartache, Strange Fruit, Don’t Explain, All of me and many more. Billie’s unusual timbre tells a story like no other jazz singer. Her phrasing and timing is heartfelt as she takes you on a journey which encapsulates her many influences including prostitution, the cops, doing time and the affects drugs had on her life. Her relationship with men, her work, the abuse she suffered by those who took advantage of her. What drove her and finally killed her.”

In this one woman musical, Nina Kristofferson charts the life and times of Jazz singing legend Billie Holiday via the songs of Billie Holiday.

There were a number of familiar songs played beautifully by the band including ‘Moon over Bourbon Street’, which I recognised as a Sting song from his first solo, Jazz influenced album, ‘The Dream of the Blue Turtles’. It’s not surprising it sounded so good as Geoff Gascoyne (Double Bass) and Martin Shaw (Trumpet) have played with Sting and Oliver Patrick(drummer) has performed with Stewart Copeland (The Police).

In the main though we hear Nina sing beautifully and powerfully to so many well known and lesser known songs too, including ‘Easy Living’ and ‘That Ole Devil Called Love.’

In a relatively straightforward show that showcased songs, Nina confidently chatted to the audience between songs (something many performers struggle or choose not to do) or enticed audience members to get up from their seats for a little dance. This was a nice surprise and brought a smile to the faces of those watching.

The stage set was superb, with echo’s of 1940’s New York. The Charing Cross Theatre is a great little theatre, which allowed for the creation of a good, intimate atmosphere in keeping with the spirit of the Jazz clubs where Billie Holiday frequently performed in her heyday. Particularly with the cabaret setting of tables in front of the stage.

I like her use of the word “cats” to describe certain characters in her life. In the time she lived I daresay Nina would have been called the ‘N’ word and might even have used the word when describing her treatment. It’s noteworthy that Nina mentioned that she considered and immediately rejected using the ‘N’ word in her show, as she did not consider it appropriate for she still considers it a derogatory word and didn’t wish to detract from the story.

Quite deliberately she used the word “cats” instead. Ironically only last week I’d been pondering what words controversial Comedian Reginald D Hunter could have used instead of ‘that’ word which got him into so much hot water at the end of April at the PFA awards and “cats” is precisely the word I thought he could have used without losing any of the meaning.

I found the show delivered an enchanting musical, telling a narrative story, as from song to song, apart from the acting where we saw the tragic turns Billie’s life took, the songs on their own didn’t, to me, tell the complete story. Maybe you would see this differently. You’ll just have to go and see what you think. I’d love to hear your thoughts once you’ve seen it.

With there being no other performers on stage, this meant the show somewhat lacked the dramatic tension I like to see in a drama or musical. However, there were staged acts to enable you to understand her drug and alcohol use. Or using her leather strap, she did demonstrate how she took drugs, drank alcohol and showed the audience how she drank herself into a stooper. She recklessly threw herself in sorrow on the very piano, that dominated a corner of the room, that supported her music. She demonstrated her heartache and joys on stage using her eyes and her fantastic voice. It was clear her only happiness was for the love of music and the love she had in her life!

This is a wonderfully put together show, consistently interesting and relaxing to listen to. I imagine fans of Billie Holiday’s music will find this a superb interpretation of her life and musical artistry.

The show runs until 25th May 2013.

©Tiemo Talk of the Town
15th May 2013

Photo Nina Kristofferson © Keith Pattinson

Mek Mi Laugh and Comedy Untapped 5th May 2013

Mek Mi Laugh and Comedy Untapped – Bank Holiday Stand Up Comedy Special
**** 4/5

Harrow Arts Centre
Hatch End
Middlesex HA5

Sunday 5th May 2013

The early May Bank Holiday witnessed the latest offering from ‘Mek Mi Laugh’ and ‘Comedy Untapped’ as they presented ‘Rudi Lickwood and his Comedy Chums’ at Harrow Arts Centre. In a pretty raw X rated show, on stage performing were Annette Fagon, Will E Robo, Dana Alexander, Richard Blackwood and Rudi Lickwood.

Annette Fagon

The show opened with a hilarious set from Leicester based Annette Fagon. She had the audience in hysterics with her tales of being single and inter-racial dating, late night “booty” calls and self-mocking jokes about her weight. It was very, very X rated, but also quite educational. Annette Fagon should immediately be placed on the ‘Sex Education Register’ for her performance! Very funny, ebut naughty woman. With the focus largely on gender related subjects, unsurprisingly Annette connected well especially with the women in the audience and the different nationalities present with her inclusive, funny routines.

Will E Robo

There was a good routine from American Will E Robo who insisted on getting a really lively welcome before he got going. Very brave call at a London gig, where audiences can be a lot more reserved than in the provinces, but it paid off. I recall him being here 2-3 years ago and not getting to complete his set due to the late running of the show. Being on second this time there was no danger of that tonight. His set seemed largely to focus on sex, cultural and language differences between Americans and Brits and judging by the laughter reverberating around the Elliot Hall of Harrow Arts Centre, it was clearly very well received.

Richard Blackwood

The Black Comedy Award 2012 Winner – ‘Best Comedian Acting’, Richard Blackwood, was on in place of the advertised Curtis Walker, who was engaged elsewhere due to a double booking. No mention was made of this that I was aware of, though there was no shock reaction from the audience so maybe they were aware. Either way, Richard’s no bad substitute for the ‘Don’ of comedy. It was great to see Richard back on stage doing Stand Up as opposed to acting the ass, if you pardon the expression, quite literally in ‘Shrek’ which he’d been doing for the past two years. That earned him his award at Tiemo’s 2012 Black Comedy Awards.

If people were in any doubt he could still cut it on the stand up stage, those doubts were swiftly swatted aside as Richard quickly got back into his comedic stride in a high energy performance that covered dating, clubbing, cultural differences between Black and White men, how each dealt with their anger and potential threats to. I loved his account of the ‘Super nanny’ episode which he used to highlight the difference between effective i.e. strict versus ineffective i.e. weak, parenting. Very funny.

With Richard, it’s not so much the punch line, which you can sometimes see a mile off, as opposed to his story telling which works best, as he prefers to take the audience on the funny, scenic route to the punch line, rather than the quickest route, Jimmy Carr style for instance. It is this engaging, visual and vividly descriptive manner he uses to bring his jokes to life that has made Richard one of the Black comedy circuit’s most enduring, consistent and well loved Comedians for over 20 years.  In a recent interview, 28th April 2013 for Aspire, reviewed by Tiemo, Richard talks about his influences in comedy and the highs and lows of 20 years in show business.

Dana Alexander

Hailing from Toronto, Canada, the final act of the night was Dana Alexander. Based in London now, she did some neat jokes about the impact of the 2011 riots on her figure and her annoyance at the almost daily occurrence of being mistaken for an American and life as an “above average” size woman. A few jokes went above the audience’s head, but her jokes generally hit the spot.

As with Annette, she too covered jokes about being single in the city, which seems to be something of a recurring theme with our female Comediennes, whether they are British, American or Canadian these days. Three of the four Comedienne’s at the recent ‘Funny-n-Stiletto’s’ tour also gave quite a focus to their single status.

Rudi Lickwood

Host Rudi Lickwood kept proceedings ticking over wonderfully as usual with his wide repertoire of jokes and audience banter. Some of it was very crude and un-family friendly, but the audience were generally fine with that. That seemed to be a bit of a theme for the night from most of the comedians and at times some would argue they pushed this too far and the resultant audience reaction was more muted.

Highlights included the audience participation via the games and jokes submitted by those in attendance. I think though it was good fun, the technology at times let Rudi down resulting in delays and him calling on his assistant a few times to help out, which at times spoilt the flow of the night. A video screen would have been a good addition so that everyone could see the on stage action. Great concept though and the jokes gets the audience more involved in the entertainment.

The impromptu dance off with a female audience member was good fun. Rudi got down very well and lithely. Well done as well to the woman who confidently strutted her stuff.

All in all this was a terrific night’s entertainment from the ‘Mek Mi Laugh’ and ‘Comedy Untapped’ team. I look forward to the next ‘Mek Mi Laugh’ show at Harrow Arts Centre on Sunday 7th July 2013 with Felicity Ethnic the ‘Best Female Comedienne’ as voted for by the public at The 2012 Black Comedy Awards, as well as Quincy, Adam Ethan Crow, Dane Baptiste and host Rudi Lickwood.

©Tiemo Talk of the Town
15th May 2013

For news about the Black Comedy Awards 2013 nominations and awards ceremony please register for updates of this Blog as well as www.tiemo.co.uk where full news and information on the awards will be posted.

Luiz Suarez – Bitten by the FA. Justice or an over reaction?

Much has been said and written about the recent Luiz Suarez case. Many of us will have seen the bizarre pictures of him biting Chelsea Defender Branislav Ivanovic during the 2-2 draw with Liverpool on Sunday 21st April 2013.

Awful as it was to see, I think the words ‘baffling’, ‘bizarre’ and ‘why oh why oh why?’ spring to mind more than horrified. For that and other reasons I shall outline I think the 10 match ban handed out and accepted by the Liverpool Biter, sorry, Striker was disproportionate to the incident and like many tackles we see these days, was way over the top.

Yes it was violent conduct, but no mark was left on Ivanovic and therefore, as far as we know, no actual bodily harm was caused. We have to assume that even the Referee saw no injury that merited even a yellow card caution for Suarez. The potential was there of course, for instance if he had AIDS or other disease that could have been transmitted through his bite, but if that were the case then a 10 match ban would have been in order and the least of his worries, as doubtless Ivanovic would be taking legal action against him that could have resulted in the loss of his liberty, never mind his liberty to play football.

If the incident had been seen by the referee the least he would likely have given is a yellow card, possibly a straight red, for “violent conduct.” That means an automatic 3 match ban. I can’t therefore see how this has now resulted in a 10 match ban. The panel will have had to take into consideration his past record, any current warnings and approach taken for similar cases to ensure consistency and fairness.

He served an 8 match ban last year for racist comments made against Manchester United Defender Patrice Evra and has had a number of other allegations made against him. Not to mention he has previous for biting, receiving a 7 match ban for biting an opponent in the Dutch League whilst playing for Ajax. Despite the name, he clearly still hasn’t cleaned up his game or attitude.
In terms of consistency, there’s an absence of that. Jermaine Defoe bit Javier Mascherano of West Ham (now at Barcelona) way back in October 2006 and just got a yellow card.

I think taking all of that into account, in particular the current warning for conduct, an additional 2 match ban would have sufficed, totalling a 5 match ban. Would that have been justice in your view or do you think the FA got it right with a 10 match ban? 

There is a lot worse going on these days such as two footed, potentially leg breaking, career ending tackles which need dealing with a greater consistency of approach.  For me, such tackles frequently elicit too wide a range of arbitrary decisions – either no booking at all, or a yellow or red card. Rarely anything more than a 3 match ban is given. So how an inconsequential bite can have such a draconian consequence beggars belief really. If I was Suarez, I would have appealed. Of course, it goes without saying I wouldn’t have done it in the first place I’d eat before the match not during it! Besides there are, some might say, tastier players to bite into anyway!

@Tiemo Talk of the Town

Inspirational chat from Arising stars Richard Blackwood, Angellica Bell and Jason Roberts

Arise ***** 5/5

Featuring guests Jason Roberts, Angellica Bell, Richard Blackwood and Host, Daddy Ernie

Tabernacle,
London W11
Sunday 28th April 2013

Angellica Bell, Daddy Ernie, Richard Blackwood and D22

The latest of the ARISE series of interviews with well known celebrities featured an interesting and diverse mix of personalities. A Premier League Footballer, TV star and Actor-Comedian joined DJ and Radio Presenter Daddy Ernie for a cosy chat on the sofa at the Tabernacle, 28th April 2013.

Jason Roberts

Reading FC Striker

First up was Reading Footballer Jason Roberts. His mood, considering his team Reading had just a few hours before the interview been relegated from the Premier League, following a goal-less draw with QPR, (also relegated), was relatively upbeat.

Naturally he expressed his sadness at that, but was sanguine and realistic knowing that his side had been struggling for months and had been bottom of the table for a number of weeks. It was highly improbable that Reading would have escaped the big drop.

In addition to discussing his long and distinguished career he talked about topical matters that have beset football this season. On the recent Luiz Suarez 10 match ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic, he felt it was quite long, maybe too long. However if the FA will be raising the tariffs for other misdemeanours to equate to this, then that’s fine by him.

He talked about his time playing for Grenada and the difficulty the country has competing on an international level, with the island being so small. With a relatively small pool of players to select from Grenada struggles to unearth sufficient good talent to compete with bigger nations.

Angellica Bell

Presenter – The One Show

The BBC ‘One show’ and former CBBC presenter was interviewed next. A local woman, from Ealing, she was educated at Notting Hill and Ealing Girls School. This is a top private school which she got into through an assisted place scheme. It was interesting to hear that although she’d been past the Tabernacle many times, she’d never been inside before. For a local person working in TV and media I found that pretty surprising considering all the good, cultural fare, the Tabernacle has provided over many, many years.
She said she found having goals useful as they kept her focussed.

Breakthrough

Following University, where she read Politics (and was incidentally the first in her family to go), she managed to get her very first job at the BBC doing clerical and administrative work.

Her approach was to be friendly and chatty, often talking to people, anyone, about what they do etc… This marked her out as a little bit different, as it’s not behaviour that was expected at the BBC where it’s very middle class and people keep themselves to themselves and their own groups. This got her noticed and eventually lead to her presenting CBBC’s and then the One Show, where she is now their longest serving presenter, having been on since it’s started 6 years ago in 2007.

Racism

On racism at the BBC, she didn’t feel the BBC was racist as such, or even institutionally racist, more that some individuals within the corporation are.

On the subject of being a role model, she felt that can be difficult at times and she believes the best thing for her to do is just do the best she can and be seen to be doing so on TV. There are times she wants to be vocal and speak up on issues, but she’s been in the industry long enough to know that if she did we’d not be seeing her face on TV for much longer and she’d be out of work, so she just gets her head down and works away.

It’s quite worrying that Angellica and other BBC TV staff feel they can’t speak their mind. This is something of a theme we’ve  heard a lot about in the last week and indeed the last year regarding bullying, sexism, harassment and worse at the BBC in the last year. Hushing things up. Not acting on instincts and actual knowledge.

This allowed the likes of the late Jimmy Savile and the disgraced Rapist and former BBC Broadcaster Stuart Hall to get away with their crimes for so long.  In the light of the recent high profile sex scandals, many of which have not only hurt  the victims, but sadly are destroying the reputations of these stars and also some of the happy memories many of us have of some of  our childhood TV stars, I think this is something all staff at the BBC and other organisations have to think about personally. Namely,  do they give voice to their conscience. Ask themselves if they consider that they have a personal responsibility to speak up about matters they have an insiders knowledge of and which perhaps should be raised at higher management levels to address - be that bullying, racial or sexual discrimination/harrassment in the workplace.

HR and senior management are meant to be there to listen to, respond and investigate complaints, allegations and concerns raised. Whistleblowing policies also exist for staff wishing to complain anonymously. I appreciate this is a delicate matter for people and can be easier said than done, but you could argue that staying silent is to be complicit. What do you think? Has this been an issue for you in the workplace?

Inter-racial Relationships

She didn’t voice any particularly strong views on this, saying the most important thing is to be with someone you get on with. Her husband Michael Underwood was fostered and raised by a
White family, which caused some cultural difficulties for him as he got older.

Sometimes people spend too much time looking for the man/woman who ticks all their boxes so to speak, when the right person for you might be right under your nose. For instance with her Michael had been expressing an interest in her for years, but she never realised, or if she did, discounted him, until realising she should give him a chance and that happily resulted in marriage and children. She’s currently pregnant and expecting her second child with him.

Richard Blackwood

Best Comedian Acting Tiemo Black Comedy Awards 2012

The headline guest was Richard Blackwood, most well known for being a Comedian, but for the past few years he has been forging ahead with his acting career via roles in the West End hits ‘Cat on a hot tin roof’ and the musical ‘Shrek’. He was also in an episode of BBC’s ‘Casualty’ the night before this interview, called ‘Human Resources’. I’ve always thought comedy and HR strange bedfellows but there you go, even Richard Blackwood’s trying HR now!

Though I’ve followed his career for many years this evening was  quite an eye opener as we got to know more about the man behind the personality we see on stage and screen.

Inspiration

Asked how he got into comedy, his answer was twofold. Firstly by being witness to the success of his Uncle, Junior Giscombe, who achieved musical and chart success in the 1980’s with hits such as ‘Mama used to say’. That first inspired him to believe success was possible.

His second cousin, Super Model, Naomi Campbell also inspired him through her modelling success to believe he too could be successful. So that’s two people close to him going from nothing to something.

Breakthrough

He’s been in comedy for over 20 years now, starting out around 1992/93. Asked who gave him his first break, he said he attributes this to Geoff Schumann. Starting out, he performed 5-10 minutes for him and noticed Geoff deliberately stifling his laughter! He was a hard taskmaster! Later, once he’d done a few more shows Geoff invited him to do a big show in High Wycombe in front of 500 people. The biggest crowd he’d ever performed for at the time. He did well. That was the breakthrough and as they say, the rest is history.

Naomi Campbell

Talking about cousin Naomi Campbell’s infamous temper he said what people have to know and keep in mind is that behind all the glamour and sophistication of the modelling world, she is still essentially a street girl and that will come out from time to time. It can happen with him too. We only see the public persona, but there’s a real person behind that. To highlight the point he related a story concerning himself.

Lazy Comedians

He said there is a perception from some of the comedy going public that many Comedians are lazy. That many develop a good 20 minutes and just stick to it. Repeating the same set again and again. Some comedy fans might see that as cheating the audience and he tries not to do that. He prefers freestyling – feeding of the energy and vibe of the audience and with whatever’s going on in his life or his observations of the world.

Bankruptcy

Daddy Ernie asked him what happened for him to go bankrupt. Richard admitted this used to be a very touchy, off limits subject, but is happier to talk now, having come to the realisation that it was God’s purpose for this to happen in order to serve as a lesson to others, to ensure they learn from it and don’t make the same mistakes he did.

It was very apparent that his faith is a strong part of his belief system. He believes things happen for a reason, including success and the length of time one has in the spotlight. For instance, considering Michael Jackson and Prince’s hugely successful time as megastars, he said that served a purpose, for example to show and pave a way for others to come through after them e.g. Michael Jackson was the first Black artist played on MTV. That key breakthrough paved the way for many others musicians afterwards. That’s one of the major legacies he left behind.

On bankruptcy, he admitted to making extremely good money on MTV. And that was just for doing weekend work. He said when we make money we’re conditioned to share it e.g. with family and friends. “We don’t have to. I did. We don’t owe friends anything.” When he was in America he wasn’t earning – there were restrictions on his earning capacity and therefore he was spending all the money he’d earned in England. Spending and giving away lavishly he paid the ultimate price and went into bankruptcy.

Ali G

It was interesting and a bit of a history lesson to recall how Ali G and Graham Norton’s success came to pass. Back in 1999 he had his own eponymously titled ‘The Richard Blackwood show’ on Channel 4. On Millennium night (31st December 1999) the show was on in the run up to mid-night. This led into the Graham Norton Show and following that success for Graham Norton, soon after Channel 4 dropped his show and retained Graham Norton.

Around the same time Ali G came onto the scene and became a huge hit. Richard pointed out that since then no other young Black guys have had a British TV show. That may be so, but I’m not so sure there’s a direct link between Ali G, Graham Norton and this. There were never many before 2000 with their own show. Other than Lenny Henry and Richard himself, I can’t recall any young Black comedians having their own solo TV show. Since then Stephen K Amos, Gina Yashere and Jocelyn Gee Esien have had shows. That is a whole new subject of debate that I could write for England on! The lack of Black comedic talent on TV was discussed at the Real McCoy 25th anniversary reunion last April 2012.

Choice FM to Shrek

In 2009 he was fired from Choice FM for what seemed, based on the explanation he gave, seemed to be foolish reasons that didn’t merit dismissal at all. Richard shrugged his shoulders and took it that they simply wanted him off air and found what to him and others seemed a seemingly lighweight reason. His view was that it was obviously meant to be. That it was God’s way of saying, ”your time is done on Choice”. Perhaps he was too much in his comfort zone there. Two months later he got the call to do Shrek, from contacts stemming from his acting in ‘Cat on a hot tin roof’. Shrek certainly took him out of his comfort zone and without knowing at the time, maybe that was just meant to be.

Relationships

Richard spoke very eloquently and thoughtfully on this, as with all else. He said people need to concentrate less on the aesthetics of a man or woman and focus more on what else they have to offer you within a relationship – be that love, support, kindness, having your back etc…

He said it’s important for women not to give it up to easily. Make men work for it by getting to know them. Basically he’s advocating good old fashioned courtship!

Comedy Award

At the end of the evening I presented Richard with his award for ‘Best Comedian Acting’ won at the 2012 Black Comedy Awards for his role in ‘Shrek’.  Richard said he was delighted to be recognised for this award and looks forward to attending the 2013 comedy awards ceremony.

What next?

He was in ‘Casualty’ the night before this event (27th April 2013), can be seen in ‘Waterloo Road’ and has been filming for the movie ‘Still Waters’. He is also returning to his stand up comedy roots. He will be performing at an International Comedy line up at Harrow Arts Centre, for ‘Mek Mi Laugh’ on 5th May 20 13.

This was a tremendous evening of interviews with three different personalities. They all spoke openly and honestly, allowing the audience to get an insight into their lives, motivations and how they’ve gone from, to quote Richard, “from nothing to something.”

It shows that anything is possible with hard work and determination. All are role models in their own ways. It is for us and our children to learn from their example. They have shown us that success can be achieved. No one’s going to give it to you. It won’t last forever, but it can be done.

I look forward to the next Aspire evening in September 2013.

©Tiemo Talk of the Town
5th May 2013

Richard Blackwood will be a nominee and defending champion, so to speak, for ‘Best Comedian Acting’, in The Black Comedy Awards 2013.

For news about the Black Comedy Awards 2013 nominations and awards ceremony please keep an eye on this Blog as well as http://www.tiemo.co.uk where news and information on the awards will be posted in due course.

About 2 Blow

About 2 Blow **** 4/5

Bloomsbury Theatre

London WC1

Saturday 27^th April 2013

Regular followers of the Black comedy circuit are used to seeing the same faces headlining shows all over the country. Nothing wrong with that per se. After all, people want to see the likes of Slim, Kojo, Quincy, Felix Dexter and Glenda Jaxson. They sell tickets and bring in audiences. However once you’ve seen a big name act such as Slim, Kojo or Curtis Walker you’ve seen their act. What next? Are there any other comedians about to breakthrough and start headlining shows in their own right?

LOL Show UK set out to answer that question and show that there are talented comedians out there with the potential to make that breakthrough to the next level. In a show entitled, ‘About2Blow’ at the Bloomsbury Theatre, Central London, seven comedians, all young Black men (except one) in their 20’s or early 30’s headlined a showcase of fresh talent to the Black comedy circuit. Babatunde, Axel, Travis Jay, Mo the Comedian, Aurie Styla, Mikey Carpenter and Dane Baptiste.         

Before the show had even started you got the sense this was a gamble that was going to pay off. Financially at least as a very good turnout from a young audience made for a great atmosphere and showed that people would turn up in their numbers for a big theatre show without a well established name headlining.

Were they about to blow? Let’s see.

Babatunde                 

Arguably the man with the toughest job of the night – as host, keeping the show running along nicely, the jokes flowing and managing the audience and links between each act.

Some might say he was ‘deece’ (as in decent … a running joke during the show) but I

Would go so far as to say I think Babatunde was a brilliant host. He was consistently funny throughout, with good natured, humorous interaction with the audience.  

He dealt well with latecomers (though if we’re going to boo latecomers. then perhaps we should boo the host for starting 30 minutes late too!!)

His set covered his unusual name, differences between African’s and Caribbean culture, attitudes and diet. His set even extended to amusing tales of the ‘birds and the bees’.

Babatunde is also an accomplished Actor and he doubtless intends to maintain a dual career as an Actor and Comedian. Many have done so – Angie Le Mar, Lateef Lovejoy and Richard Blackwood and countless American’s such as Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Chris Tucker and Kevin Hart. I can’t comment on his acting, but I’m certain that as a Comedian Babatunde has a bright future ahead of him.

Aurie Styla

Excellent performance from Aurie Styla. Reminiscent of a young Curtis Walker in appearance.  A lovely, original opening to his set helped him gauge the age profile of the audience. Good fun and immediately got the audience involved and engaged with him. Great. He was very funny and energetic. I loved his story about the “hench woman” in the gym. Another good anecdoate involved his travels through South London.

Aurie, like many of the acts, made good use of music in his set which down very well and keeps things lively and contemporary. This was the first time I’d seen him perform and he was excellent.

Travis jay

Travis has been on the scene for a few years now and primarily focussed on jokes about being a young father and his recent holiday in Jamaica. Unfortunately he didn’t quite find the funny in this to connect well with the audience. He referenced adverts on Jamaican TV, but as the audience hadn’t seen them and he didn’t quite manage to convey the humour of the adverts it didn’t go down as well as would have hoped for.

The joke about being afraid of spiders and his method of dealing with them was quite funny.

He demonstrated some fine observational skills, but too many were just not belly laugh funny.                                  

The anecdotes about picking up his daughter from school and interacting with her and her school friends didn’t work so well. Putting on a voice as if speaking to a 2 year old when addressing an audience of adults didn’t go down well and went on too long.

I first saw him perform 3 years ago, 10^th September 2010, on the line up for his mother, Angie Le Mar’s, 25^th anniversary ‘An Audience with Angie Le Mar’ show at the Barbican Centre. There he delivered a far better set than this one, which went down a storm, so I know he can do much better.

I welcome the fact Travis is trying to mine fresh territory in his comedy, trying observational comedy about his life as a young father and not necessarily cover similar material to his 20 something peers. It just needs working on and stage time to polish up and that’s what this is all about after all. Young comedians about to blow up big and become stars of the future.

Mo the Comedian

I loved his set and his opening ‘Gwen McCrae’ routine. The audience loved his mum dance routine as he neatly used a classic Gwen McCrae hit  to demonstrate how his mother dances.  Judging by the knowing laughter from the packed audience at Bloomsbury Theatre Mrs Mo the Comedian isn’t the only mother who does that.

His set made good use of music and covered clubbing, being single and trying to pull or be pulled whilst out clubbing. All good fun and struck a chord with many in the audience who were heartily laughing along to his routine.

I like his youthful, friendly disposition as he genuinely seems to be enjoying himself on stage and that comes across as almost effortless delivery of his material.

ACLT

The Afro-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust were present with a stall at the theatre promoting their charity. However coming on stage to open the second half they were given way too much time – 5-7 minutes to promote their work. It’s great what they do trying to save lives via bone marrow donations, but alas it was just too long, too serious and devoid of jokes, which is what people had paid good money to see. They should have been much briefer and to the point.

Their simple message was that from mobiles phones you can quickly and simply donate £3 by texting ACLT to 70300 to help save lives. “Your generosity will enable us to create lasting change in the lives of the many thousands of children & adults around the world who need our collective support.” ACLT

That and a brief call to people to become blood donors is all they needed to say to get their message across and that could have been done in 2 minutes. Maybe they could have worked in some comedy into the message or done it in partnership with a comedian.

Dane Baptiste

Dane Baptiste was hilarious and stole the show. Dane had the audience in stitches with his terrific jokes and deadpan style of delivery. A Black Jack Dee if you like!

Talking about being in a minority in the workplace, he was particularly funny and  witty. Referring to how he hated office work and socialising out of hours with colleagues he amusingly explained how family prevented made it difficult for him too. This was a terrific set from Dane and I look forward to seeing him again. Never mind ‘About2Blow’, Dane is already blowing up a storm.

 Mikey Carpenter

If Dane Baptiste felt in a minority at work, then goodness knows how Mikey Carpenter must have felt as the one white guy on the bill. I guess, pretty much like the one black guy in an all white office.

Mikey looked like a short Phil Mitchell.  Fortunately that’s where the similarity ended and he was quite funny. Not everything hit the mark and overall I found the set a bit hit and miss, with no consistent flow of material and laughs. It was the first time I’d seen him, but I’d be interested to see him again.

Axel

Coming on at 11pm Axel arguably had the toughest slot of the night. By this stage we’d seen 6 Comedians and Axel was the 7^th and final act of the night. He felt the audience energy level was a little flat by the time he entered the stage. He quickly and humorously addressed this saying, “I feel like the last beer at the back of the fridge,” which got him a good laugh and some sympathy.

Sympathy’s the last thing he needed though as he confidently got into his stride and had the audience laughing away to his high energy, highly entertaining set. Maybe the audience were more his peer group than mine, for when he name checked various fashion labels that people used to wear, “back in the day” – (Axel’s and the audience’s day that is, ‘cos it certainly wasn’t my back in the day!!) the audience got it and laughed along.

The way he ran around the stage and flung around the microphone like it was a rag doll was brilliant and anyone tempted to drift off or think this was one act too many would have been rudely awoken.

He covered relationships, London life and entered into plenty of good natured interaction and bantering with the audience.   He is supremely confident on the stage and uses the whole of the stage to maximum effect. The close of his set was highly unusual to, which I’ve never seen before. That’s pretty special as there’s not really that many different ways to end a set other than on a strong punch line, but Axel pulled something different out of the bag.             

Conclusion

The London Marathon was at the start of the week, Sunday 21^st April and though we had 7 acts and they held your attention in the main, it did feel a bit like a comedic marathon. What made the time pass well though was the variety of styles seen and that each had relatively short sets of 15-20 minutes. Sufficient time for each to develop their routine but not too long either. The show was around 3 hours long which is about an hour too long really. I don’t think there’s any need to make a marathon out of a night out at a comedy show. Two hours of good quality comedy is sufficient. I accept though on this occasion it was a showcase of upcoming talent of varying levels of experience and ability so it was necessary to allow more time.

The absence of female talent was noticeable. Is there no female talent about to blow up? When Tiemo hosted the comedy awards in 2012 there were only 3 contenders for ‘Best Young Female’ Comedian, so perhaps there aren’t many and we need to examine why. I’ll return to this topic in a future Blog. In the meantime, you can read here the review of ‘Funny-N-Stiletto’s’ an all, mostly, female show that took place  at Broadway Theatre on 6th April 2013 starring Donna Spence, Maureen Younger, Queen Aishah, Vanessa  Fraction and Wayne “Dibbi” Rollins.

Overall this was a very funny show. It entertained and kept everyone laughing away for much of the night. The LOL Show UK sought to prove there is life beyond the usual big names of the Black comedy circuit. A number of, how can I put this, longer established members of the comedy circuit were also there to see who’s coming through, including Angie Mar, Mr Cee, Special P and Victor Daniels. The seven comedians showcased without a doubt proved that there is very good talent bubbling away ready to blow up on the Black and mainstream comedy circuit. Look out for them. They’re going to blow you away.

In the forthcoming Black Comedy Awards 2013 a number of the acts that performed will be nominees for ‘Best Young Male’ Comedian. Watch this space.

©Tiemo Talk of the Town

3rd May 2013

For news about the Black Comedy Awards 2013 nominations and awards ceremony please keep an eye on this Blog as well as tiemo where news and information on the awards will be posted in due course.

Funny-n-Stiletto’s women rock Broadway Theatre

Funny-n-Stiletto’s **** 4/5

Broadway Theatre,

Catford, London SE6

Saturday 6^th April 2013

The eagerly anticipated Funny n Stiletto’s UK tour saw the return of its American founder Queen Aishah and fellow American Vanessa Fraction, on her second visit to the capital following the series of gigs she did last December 2012 which went down a storm.

A rarity of an all Ladies bill (well almost!) also included Maureen Younger, the singer, Chidi and host Donna Spence.              

Donna Spence

Donna wowed the audience with her sisterhood themed jokes regarding being a plus size (she’s a former plus size model), jokes about women bosses – she wasn’t too enamoured by some of them she’s come across and regaled the audience with her take on how she can tell if a particular boss was “getting some” by the way she would come skipping into work singing “oh what a sunny morning!”, to which Donna would reply, “but it’s raining outside!!”

We heard material relating to women who “steal” other women’s men such as Javine “stealing MC Harvey” from Alesha Dixon. This was reported 7 years ago though, back in 2006, so I’m not quite sure why Donna related this, something she’s done on a number of occasions over the years. Clearly a big issue for her. Fair enough for a “women’s gig” and it did seem to strike a sisterly chord with the audience. Personally it just came across as a little dated to use such an old example to highlight her point.

Maureen Younger

Maureen was the only white woman on the line up. I have to say this looked a little odd and she knew it and immediately confronted it, making jokes that went down brilliantly and from thereon she had the audience on side and heartily laughing away.  She hilariously took the p out of herself and her size and how she uses her, ahem, “natural baby bulge” to her advantage to get a seat on the train. She showed a clear understanding and knowledge of Black culture which endeared her to the predominantly Black audience, but above all she delivered a confident, polished and funny series of jokes, with many surprising punch-lines thrown in along the way.

Queen Aishah

Queen Aishah, from New Jersey, USA, is another plus size comedian. She founded ‘Funny n Stiletto’s’ which has toured all over America and is the Executive Producer of this tour. She too joked about her size, family, relationships – she’s been married a long time, so there less of the “woe is me … can’t find a good man” routines and more of the issues of a married woman, which was quite refreshing to hear.

Tameka Empson 

Tameka Empson presenting at The Black Comedy Awards Ceremony 2012

It was nice to see Tameka Empson a.k.a. Kim Fox from Eastenders on stage. Donna did a short interview with her. Donna praised the fact she had been in a “black relationship” with Chucky “Ray” Venn in Eastenders.  Though they’re not together Tameka promised some surprises to come and urged people to keep watching. It was funny when Donna said she needs to change the wallpaper in the B&B. Kim thought it was alright, yet when asked the audience were in agreement with Donna that it needed freshening up!

For those unaware, Tameka mentioned that she has an online spin off soap opera called Kim’s Palace. You can view previous and forthcoming episodes vai the above link. 

She acknowledged the fact people were loving the show and her and Ray’s character (sadly to be no more it would seem) and reminded people that if they love their characters that they need to let the BBC know directly and not keep it to themselves.  Every correspondence is logged and as relatively few do take the trouble to write in, one email or letter of praise is worth 1,000 viewer comments.  By taking such action you help increase the chances of your favourite characters and shows staying on screen.

Vanessa Fraction

Hailing from the home city, Chicago, of the President of the United States of America President Barak Obama, Vanessa Fraction, used this commonality to show that “even a sista” can date a President! Careful not to present a threat to the first Lady, Michelle Obama, she explained that the guy didn’t have to be President of the USA, but could, for instance, be president of a local charity.

Slim, petite and very athletic, you could say Vanessa was the “token skinny girl” on the bill!!

Her 30 minute set covered a wide range of material, from dating to equality to motivation and employment/unemployment matters. Highlights were the telephone call she once received from “her partner’s” girlfriend; the jokes about ‘polite bum’ (i.e. small like hers) v ‘impolite, all over the place bum’ and she wiggled hers to hilariously make her point. In fact she did a lot of this in the show. She’s quite the athlete on stage and must burn a serious amount of calories with each gig she does. With Queen Aisha’s booty shaking and Vanessa’s hip gyrating, booty shaking performance, it’s a wonder the Broadway Theatre wasn’t shaken to its foundations!

I loved it when she went into the audience and started lap dancing right in the faces of men and women. Hilarious. 

On equalities matters something she said surprised me but she didn’t seem over keen on it. Apparently in America the Child Support Agency, CSA, go for the woman if the man is “left holding the baby” and the woman is out earning a living. Not sure if that happens in the UK too, but odd as it sounds I suppose it makes logical sense.

Vanessa’s a very good singer to and demonstrated her vocal prowess by belting out a few tunes including a beautiful rendition of a few lines of the late Luther Vandross’s ‘So Amazing’

You could say that song summed up her performance as it climaxed, almost literally, oooh errr, in a quite astonishing finale to her set. Terrific fun.

Wayne “Dibbi” Rollins                

Wayne “Dibbi” Rollins headlined the show in trade-mark ladies clothes and get up, with exaggerated Bajan accent. I didn’t really enjoy his set. I found it routine and over familiar having seen him a number of times over the years. I was also disappointed and surprised that an innovative all woman line up allowed a man to headline the show. That just didn’t seem right, especially as he wasn’t even billed as the star of the night.

I also fail to see the point of allowing Sister Christine Meade to come on stage at the start of the show to promote her ‘Good Shepherd’ charity. All  very noble and worthy of course, but it didn’t sit well with a comedy night and it’s raunchy ‘X ‘ rated theme, which saw Donna guiding her gently out of the theatre straight after for a show she promised wasn’t for “delicate ears and the easily offended”.                            

The show certainly had a raunchy, highly sexual theme running throughout. As expected there were many sisterly, relationship based jokes, but the show did not alienate men and was equally enjoyed by the many men, as well as women present in the Broadway Theatre.

All in all it was a very funny show from the ‘Funny-N-Stilletto’s’ comediennes and I look forward to the next one.

©Tiemo Talk of the Town

3rd May 2013 

The performers on the show may well be nominees for the Black Comedy Awards 2013, with Queen Aishah and Vanessa Fraction likely contenders for Best International Comedian.

For news about the Black Comedy Awards 2013 nominations and awards ceremony please keep an eye on this Blog as well as tiemo where news and information on the awards will be posted in due course.

Video of the show and interviews

Interview with Donna Spence (pictured above), Vanessa Fraction and Queen Aishah, plus highlights from the Broadway Theatre, Catford, show on ViewNowTV – 6^th April 2013.