Venue: Roxy@ DeMarco
“15” was billed as a late night cabaret with a pop idol style competition. So, silly me was thinking along the lines of a burlesque competition, as was done in Melbourne so well in April this year. How wrong I was.
The show starts at 23.30 and is supposed to finish at 1.30. It started with Russell Brand and his entourage (of about 30 ‘friends’) turning up. Russell, for those not in the UK, is supposed to be the greatest new comedian since Jesus apparently. He has hosted one of the Big Brother shows, was a heroin addict and is tall, slim and rugged looking. I’ve never actually heard him talk so I can’t vouch for his comedic abilities, but from the look of his entourage, he is definitely living the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.
The first act after the MC had opened the show with a Broadway tune was Trevor Lock who gave us an amusing but rather rambling set. As soon as he had finished, the entire Russell Brand audience got up and left, leaving about a dozen people in the audience!
Next we had the pop idol part of the show. This is basically a competition for new stand-up’s. Three audience members were asked to play the part of the Pop-idol judges and the winner would be in the final next week. Of the four contestants, only the first was not having a good night. We could tell this because she said ‘oh, I fucked that up’ at least six times in her five minute set. The third act, the Russian immigrant, was the winner for the week although any of the three could have made it through. I thought they all had potential.
After this, we had some tunes from Peter Something, which were entertaining and funny, and we sang along with gusto. A couple more songs from the MC and another showtune from someone else, then it was time for the headline act. It was now 1.30. Shazia Mirza came on and started with a lot of material playing on stereotypes, being a female Muslim comedian, being a virgin, taking it up the arse (don’t blame me, she said it every five minutes), and being from Birmingham. The also told some very funny stories. I had to leave at 2.30 as my brain had turned off (and I had to catch the train in the morning), but Shazia was still going, so I have no idea what time the night actually ended.
So in conclusion if you’re prepared to stay for a long time you will certainly get your moneys worth out of this evening and, who knows, you might see next year’s best newcomer being shaped. Just don’t do a Russell Brand. It’s so rude.
For booking details go to 15