Tuesday, 3 December 2024

Simon Brodkin "Screwed Up", The Pavilion, Glasgow. Tuesday 3rd December, 2024

 

Did Simon Brodkin screw up when he booked a second date at The Pavilion for his current tour?  Not as far as I was concerned, although I think he expected to sell a few more tickets than he did. The first show sold out but that had been for a Saturday night in September, not midweek in December. It was always going to be a difficult sell, especially for the same tour, not fresh material. The Pavilion had done its best to make the theatre appear full, moving the Balcony ticketholders down to the Stalls, but even then, the empty seats were noticeable. 

With no support act, Simon did both halves of the show himself. Opening with some crowd work, he struggled slightly with his picks, not initially finding comedy gold. Occasionally, he struggled with the local accent. He got better when he switched to asking if there were particular workers present, like teachers or those in the NHS, so he could use his prepared material. 

By chance, he did uncover one audience member who claimed to work as a Radiation Plate Operator (or something similar, I can't remember exactly) on a nuclear submarine. Probing deeper with lots of questions about the job, Simon started to doubt the man's sincerity and asked if anyone else worked in a nuclear submarine. 

One man further back  piped up, "I used to."

 "And what did you do there?" Simon asked,

 "I was a Radiation Plate Operator."

Big laughs from the crowd

The second half of the show was entirely prepared material, starting with his opinions on Harry and Meghan and then going all over the place from there. His writing is sharp, with lots of excellent lines. I had watched him perform some of the jokes online, but not many. He gets away with his inherent cheeky persona because he is from London; the joke is often on him, and we know he's only joking.

The pedant in me took issue with a couple of his jokes. His routine about half-price morning after pills in Boots didn't fly with me because, in Scotland, you can get them free at any pharmacy as part of the Emergency Contraception Service.  And I can't remember now what the second one was.

I especially enjoyed his finale, in which the wife of his best friend asked him to provide his eulogy. He began by apologising for not knowing her name (the joke being that men don't talk to one another about their lives), his ignorance escalating from there to a sublime "Would You Rather... Or" callback which almost didn't need telling, the laughing audience way ahead.

Simon's career has evolved from a chav character act to a global stage prankster to a confident stand-up performer. I'd say, in this respect, he hasn't screwed up, no matter the diagnosis from his doctor. I look forward to seeing what he does next.

After the show, I put my right arm into my jacket sleeve and discovered where the contents of the knocked-over can of Heineken I'd noticed under my seat at the interval had gone. I didn't realise the sleeve was so absorbent, so I ended up carrying the jacket back to the car instead of wearing it. Fortunately, the rain had stopped, and there was only a faint smell of alcohol. 

Ticket Price: £29.50 x 2 plus Service fee £3.95. Total £62.95 from Trafalgar Tickets (£1.50 more than he charged for his September gig, the chancer).




Photo taken with consent
from comedian

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