Roar With Laughter

Last night's Roar With Laughter was, uh, interesting.

Chambers & Nettleton were, well, rubbish. Perhaps it's just me - I really can't stand comedy songs.

Tim Vine came on for a brief 10 minute set. He wasn't on the bill, and the material was a bit rough. I think he was just using us to try out some new stuff. He's welcome to do so again - he was fantastic.

Johnny Candon's set was very funny, but rather uncomfortable. He asked if there were any parents in the audience, and I was the only one to respond. He proceeded to interrogate me for several minutes about my family history, my children, my relationships and my ex's relationships for what felt like ten minutes (but was probably only a minute or two) in front of sixty or seventy people. Still, very funny, though, and when he asked another audience member if she was a "proper nanny, or a shaky nanny", it was one of the high points of the night for me.

Sarah Kendall; well, what can I say? She pretty much died. She got off to a bad start being heckled about the size of her watch(!) before she'd even started, and she never really recovered. It didn't help that half the (generally good natured) heckling came from a Scot whose accent she didn't understand. And at one point she was accused be being an aggressive racist. The 'aggressive' bit was just absurd, and I really don't believe the racism accusation to be fair, either. She might have been a little naive in her choice of language, though. So, Sarah, on the million to one chance that you read this, here's a couple of rules to keep you out of trouble.

1. If you aren't black, don't use the word 'nigger'. Ever. I know that you were only mentioning the name of a band, but just say NWA next time, OK?
2. Never claim that you aren't a racist. That's complacent - none of us are perfect. You may despise racism, and you may strive to eradicate it from yourself. But if you aren't willing to accept that you might still bear the odd prejudice or two, you'll never see them and have no chance to fix them.
3. Avoid referring to members of other racial groups as 'them'.

Anyway, despite the fact that I really don't think she recovered, she struggled on bravely, there were some very funny moments, and she came across as very likable. She's stunning to look at, too, I must say. I'd be more than prepared to give her another chance. ;-)

Anyway, it was a good night on the whole. Well worth a visit.

Posted to by Simon Brunning at March 11, 2005 01:17 PM