For The Comedy – An Evening of Comedy Supporting For The Culture
- Review Date: 4 March 2024
- Venue: Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London W6
- Star Rating: ***
- Comedians: Aurie Styla, Dana Alexander, Dane Baptiste, Darren Harriott, Sharon Wanjohi and Slim
- Production: Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in association with Nice N’Spiky Comedy
Relationships and health were two of the main themes covered by the 6 comedians at For The Comedy – For The Culture: Celebration of Blackness Festival fundraising evening at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.
It was nice to see the Associate Director, Nicholai La Barrie, a man of African-Caribbean origins, open the show by welcoming the audience and saying a little about the For The Culture: Celebration of Blackness season at the Lyric and the fundraising auction which aims to raise £40,000 for their programme of work. This is a curation of events creating space for joy, reflection, conversation and resistance, championing Black British artists, activists and thinkers. “For the Culture acts as an open space for our community to come together, see ourselves reflected in each other’s artistic work and most importantly, celebrate our shared history and heritage.” Nicholai La Barrie
Aurie Styla was a superb host. His audience interaction was first class and generated plenty of laughter. The unprompted, instinctive round of applause given to the couple in a 36 year marriage, that Aurie just happened to find himself chatting to set the tone for the relationship heavy theme of the night. When he found another couple who exceeded that by 6 years with their 42 year long marriage, the audience gave an even bigger round of applause. Such a long marriage is unusual to a lot of people and so I think that’s why people instinctively warm to such couples when decades long marriages are revealed. It gives people hope that it can be done.
Aurie Styla
That said when asked where the husband was, the wife joking that he was in jail, then dead, didn’t land too well with Aurie. He responded, “Words have power in the bible.”
I found that quite pertinent for two reasons. Firstly as words can become your reality, even if said as a throwaway joke. I presume Aurie had in mind Proverbs 18:21 –“The tongue can bring death or life: those who love to talk will reap the consequences. Our words have the power to build people up and give them life or tear people down and bring them to death.” Second, considering the amount of swearing by most of the comedians on the bill, except Aurie who was sparing in his profanity – a couple of utterances. As he rightly said, there’s power in words – negatively so when it comes to swearing. Then again you could argue that he did start it by saying some people have had life sentences of less than 42 years!
This was a great line up and the comedians were all really funny but I would say some of the performances were marred by swearing. The Lyric was around 50% full, yet with the talent on stage, location and the cause, it really merited being sold out. I would say the community are voting with their feet when it comes to the language they expect to be used on stage. If any of the acts were delivering a show to go out on Radio or prime time pre-watershed TV I’m sure they are more than capable of self-censoring out the language that if uttered would see their performance left gathering dust on the cutting room floor.
Dana Alexander
Dana Alexander was funny – joking re her relationship status – or rather lack of pre the Covid-19 2020 lockdown due to being too busy to be attached to someone. Her recollections of sexual harassment and over protective boyfriend were humorously told as she took the audience on a brief journey of her dating.
Being from Canada it was interesting to hear her take on cultural differences between our nations.
Darren Harriott
I enjoyed Darren Harriott’s set. Simply but effective joking about his origins – the Black Country (where this writer hails from) in the West Midlands and dating preferences as a follically challenged Black man. That resulted in some funny and awkward exchanges with the audience. Maybe he should have gone to Specsavers before bringing in people in the Upper Circle who he perhaps couldn’t quite make out … but may end up making out with even if they are of the “wrong gender!” I had a sense the Black Country line was thrown in more for comedic effect as I don’t know many people who refer to being from the Black Country. They tend to say the specific town they are from. That’s Wolverhampton in my case in case you’re wondering.
Sharon Wanjohi
Relative newcomer to the comedy circuit Sharon Wanjohi certainly brought a different energy to the stage. She was quick to introduce herself by informing the ‘congregation’ that she was an ex-school teacher and back-sliden Roman Catholic (RC). It’s unsurprising she’s an ex-teacher considering the liberal use of the “f” word in her set like it was going out of fashion. It’s difficult to square how that is consistent with her former teaching and Roman Catholic values.
Sharon also focused a lot on her relationship status, how she’s dated numerous men over the years, before choosing to go over to the “other” side. She bemoaned the RC church as being homophobic, but presumably when she was a church goer she was in agreement with RC tenets. That seemed a bit of a silly statement to make, even in retrospect, as why would she or anyone expect the RC church, or any church for that matter, to support homosexuality? It’s literally in their constitution i.e. the bible to be wholly against it for genuine God given reasons.*
It was clear that Sharon’s a talented comedian but the profanity and overt references to what many will see as an uncommon sexuality may not be doing her any favours.
Dane Baptiste
Dane Baptiste was well received by the Lyric audience in a set as colourful and varied as his bright orange tracksuit top.
Slim
Headliner Slim also focused on relationships but from the perspective of being a parent to 6 (I think) grown up children and the primary carer for his ageing father. It’s the detail you get that brings out the funny with Slim, for instance when he bemoans having to attend terrible school panto’s and sitting on those long benches they have in schools. He’d not realised how low to the ground they are until sitting on them as a grown man.
Slim
I loved the self-depracating jokes about fathers and mothers and parental capabilities. The anecdote about how a mother could happily take a group of 9 children out for the day – including some she didn’t know – and be guaranteed to return with all 9 children; whereas in the same situation Slim couldn’t be so sure the outcome would be the same!
The tales of looking after his old man were particularly amusing and poignant at the same time. His father’s a diabetic who enjoys 6 cups of tea per day .. often with 3 sugars and condensed milk to add a ‘lickle’ sweetness to it! So he’s not exactly helping himself by that or by not telling the truth to his GP re his sugar intake. It’s fairly unusual to hear of a son taking such responsibility and it was a measure of the responsibility he takes, love he has for his father, that he abandoned gigs whilst up in Dublin to return home when he heard his father was in hospital.
The ever popular Slim provided a great finale to a very good show.
© Tiemo Talk of The Town
Photograph Slim © Tiemo Talk of the Town
Links:
- For The Culture – For The Culture
- Lyric Hammersmith Auction 4 – 27 March 2024
- What is the Midlands Black Country and How Did it Get Its Name? – Richard Franks 09/10/2009
- Diabetes UK Information
- Aurie Styla’s Green Agenda – Tiemo Talk of the Town review – 03/04/2022
- * Romans 1:26-27 NIV: “… Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.”
Not sure if this was put up in the Lyric Hammersmith in honour of Aurie Styla aka Aurie Green, but it was clear from the laughter, that the audience loved Aurie’s energetic interaction with them (maybe not so much love though from those in the front rows)!
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