Review: Stephen Grant headlining at Monkey Business Comedy Club, Camden
Stephen Grant
Saturday 28th January 2012 - The award-winning comedian Stephen Grant popped into the Monkey Business Comedy Club in Camden to treat the crowd to some of the funniest comedy in London. He is a regular at the London Comedy Store and renowned Compère for Komedia in Brighton, establishing himself as one of the best live comedy acts the UK has to offer.
The audience were particularly restless and Stephen entered a room more akin to a lion’s den rather than comedy club. The audience were ready for blood and he was faced not only with having to effectively warm up his own act, but also to deal with a number of hecklers.
He started with an improvised set getting to know a few of the audience members. While improvised comedy may fill even the most experienced performer with dread it is an area in which Stephen Grant excels. His mind races ahead of everyone in the room, ready with a punch line and a witty retort before you’ve even told him your name. It’s like watching a sadistic psychic at play as he toys with each subject, cleverly drawing the audience in and commanding their attention.
He read the audience well, and included them as part of his set. One particularly brilliant moment was when he asked them to shout out words seen on online dating profiles and he would quickly fire back what they really meant. The speed of his response filled the room with hysterical laughter and won over what had been a difficult audience.
Stephen’s humour flickers between outrageous interpretations of every day life to quick-witted one-liners. He possesses the ability to make the audience laugh at themselves and at the same time brings in brilliantly funny observations from his own life experiences. He brings an immense amount of energy to the stage, sometimes exploding wildly while other times creating a delightful tension of social awkwardness. He got the biggest laughs of the night and many of the audience commented afterwards that they would have quite happily seen a complete ‘Stephen Grant’ show.
Stephen is certainly an act destined to do well. It seems criminal that we don’t see more of him on our television screens and I’m positive that it won’t be long before he is snapped up from the live comedy circuit. It’s definitely a case of catch him while you still can! Bloody brilliant show – the ultimate in live comedy!
Review by Melissa Phillips
