The Hot Damn! were playing in Audio tonight, but I'd already purchased tickets for this show, and my wife really wanted to go, so off we went.
Front-row tickets for the Grand Circle gave us a fantastic, unimpeded view of the stage, which was dressed with large objects covered in white sheets. A large screen stood at the back.
The support act, Tom Houghton, announced himself for the first half, drawing consternation from the crowd. He's a posh boy, son of a retired top military official no less, which did little to wheedle him into the affection of this Glasgow crowd. He had to work hard to draw any laughs, and his crowd work generated little more than a single sentence from anyone. Indeed, the biggest laugh came from an audience response after he asked if anyone had a hairy body, and someone did a Chewbacca voice impression.
We were on safer ground with Milton. As always, he was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, with his hair gelled to bouffant. This show had a lightly theatrical tone, as per the title, and vaguely revolved around a cease-and-desist letter he received from Cameron Mackintosh's production company about the tour title. The jokes were clever, with only a few drawing groans. I loved his Braveheart giant cue card joke and how he referred back to it later with another joke.
This show used five large props, more than I remember from any of his previous tours, perhaps leaning more into the show's theatrical aspects. He used a crib, an overhead projector (I nearly shouted out the expected heckle to one joke, only for him to subvert the response when it did come), a rocking chair, which, when reversed, doubled as the front of a boat, a Punch-and-Judy-style TV theatre, and a giant snail that he crawled inside for his finale routine.
There were callbacks aplenty, and the show was consistently funny, even with the few groaners. I can't knock his talent for joke creation. A lot of skill and quick thinking went into tonight's performance. I just wish it hadn't been on at the same time as The Hot Damn!
Ticket Price: £38 x 2 plus £3.95 service fee from Trafalgar Tickets
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