Saturday, 5 April 2025

Stuart Mitchell "Tips Not Included" UK Tour 2025, Paisley Arts Centre, Saturday 5th April, 2025


This was my first visit to the Paisley Arts Centre since its revamp. We arrived at 7:30 p.m. for an 8 p.m. show start, expecting the doors to the auditorium to be open. The show was sold out, so the bar area was busy—too busy to get in. It's just as well the planners added that extra space at the front. 

Paisley Arts Centre

The auditorium, with its red padded seats, looked plush. The stage was on the floor level, the folds of the theatre curtain drapes catching the illumination. What looked like four light sabres stood vertically across the back. No Force battles occurred during the performance, so they must have been there as decoration.


Stuart announced himself and did crowd work for the first twenty minutes. He peppered this with a few jokes to keep us amused, but his interactions failed to hit comedy gold. Then, after the interval, he returned to deliver his prepared material. 

I was disappointed that he didn't have a support act. I suppose, as it was his debut hour, he wanted to keep the box office for himself. The show itself was okay, with lots of funny lines. In Edinburgh terms, you'd call it his Dead Parents' hour. He explained how he came to lose his finger tips, how his mum had killed herself and how he lost his dad to cancer. He also nearly lost his wife, too, before their wedding when an ovarian cyst burst, leading to her developing a systemic infection. 

I'd heard some of his material before, during his Christmas show. I felt his delivery tonight wasn't totally smooth, and I noticed he repeated one punchline, inserting it later in the correct place. It's early in the run, though, so he can be forgiven for the odd fluff. Given the dark subject matter, he could have enhanced the comedic responses by playing more with the emotional weight of the tragedies. But then, he admits he's no actor, despite once playing Bible John in an ITV show. 

He killed then, but not so much tonight. It was acceptable as a debut show for a club comic. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

Ticket Price:
2 Full Price Tickets £20.00 x2 = £40.00
Per Item Fees £2.00 (Service Charge Full Price Ticket) x2 £4.00
Order Processing Fees Handling Fee £1.35
Total: £45.35 from Ticketmaster

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