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An Evening Shared with…
Jasper Carrott and Alistair McGowan
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
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A PACKED audience enjoyed an evening
shared with Jasper Carrott and Alistair McGowan and so did I.
To be honest, Jasper Carrott had me in tears! It
was so lovely to reacquaint with him as a stand-up comedian – and he
topped off his two sets with some of his bawdy versions of well-known
songs. He was obviously struggling with his voice – but nothing stopped
him.
He reprised and developed his wonderful obsession
with car insurance claim forms – I loved in particular one from the old
days – “I turned out of my drive and hit a bus – it was five minutes
early!”
Jasper Carrott said that he was often asked why
he isn’t on television anymore and responds – “I can’t cook!”
It is good to see the Belgrade offering
successfully a broader programme than just theatre. I saw Alistair
McGowan as Professor Higgins in Shaw’s Pygmalion and thought at the time
that he needn’t have opened his mouth; his hands are so expressive.
He kicked off this evening with his impressionist
set which was wonderful and again the thought occurred that he is wasted
on the radio. He has the wing span of a sea eagle and the hands of a
giant and they talk on their own!
He started by explaining about the evening: half
an hour from him then Jasper, interval and then another half an hour
from him and then from Jasper, and continued with us on a piece of
string – then another half an hour, then Ken Dodd comes on round about
Friday!
Alistair McGowan announced early on to rapturous
applause that this was a Trump-free zone; in fact he had gone off
Politics in its entirety but talked about his early days on Radio 4’s
Week Ending and his role on Spitting Image as Paddy Ashdown. He had
written a poem about getting older and turning into his father – clever…
I’m turning into my Father
But I’d rather
Not.
His impressions, based mainly around the
‘comedians’ came thick and fast and included a rich variety Jo Brand,
Sarah Millican (hysterical!) and Diane Abbott.
It was a great plan to juxtapose the two legends
with differing talents – and worked very well. To 16-03-17
Jane Howard
13-03-17
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