Express & Star

Big names and new stars hitting the comedy circuit

Andy Richardson gives the low-down on the comics you can catch this week

Published

Big names and fast rising stars will line up at comedy clubs in the region during the coming seven days.

The Glee Club will host headline shows from The Raymond and Mr Timpkins Review and Rudi Lickwood. There will also be sets from Roger Monkhouse, Daliso Chaponda, David Whitney and Simon King.

The Raymond and Mr Timkins Revue will headline tonight and tomorrow. They have won a series of rave reviews from critics, with Take 7 Magazine calling their show: 'An indulgent set of brilliant tackiness', The Guardian calling them: 'A knockabout duo – Really out there!' and the Evening Standard saying they produce 'Enough silliness to fill a pillow'.

The duo are unique comedy characters that comprise a charasmatically-challenged uncle and his mute nephew .

Their freakish entertainment incorporates inimitable acoustic guitar/stylophone-driven rock anthems coupled with a plethora of prop-assisted material that's busier than a wasp in a fat child's lunchbox. The duo have been together since 1992 and their highly original performance approach has made them regulars in universities and comedy clubs around the country, including appearances at the Edinburgh, Glastonbury, Phoenix and Reading festivals.

They have appeared on Carlton TV's 'The Warehouse' and BBC Choice's 'Lenny Beige's Variety Pack'.

The duo will be supported by Roger Monkhouse and Daliso Chaponda.

Roger Monkhouse is a stand-up comedian, actor, presenter, writer and voiceover artiste. He is known on the circuit for being a consummate stand-up who employs a deadly combination of charm and menace to exert a masterful control over any audience. His highly original and quirky performances have helped to established him as one of the hottest names on the comedy circuit. Monkhouse is supremely confident and has udience banter down to an art form. He is happy to improvise freely but has no shortage of first class material in his armoury.

Meanwhile, the Glee Club will welcome headline star Rudi Lickwood to the venue on Thursday. Lickwood has exploded onto the comedy circuit and has some of the sharpest and wickedest one-liners in the business.

A member of BBC's Real McCoy team, Rudi shoots from the hip and the lip to leave every audience braying with laughter.

A quality performer who is destined for great things, Rudi has been awarded the Jongleurs Award for Best Performer 01 so we're not talking merely 'funny', more 'call the surgeon for those splitting sides'.

He has been thrilling fans for more than a decade, after starting his professional life as an Eddie Murphy impersonator.

He will be supported by David Whitney and Simon King. David Whitney was born in Aberdeen into an army family and grew up all over the world on various army camps. He went to a military college himself with a view to serving in the British Army but, just before going to Sandhurst, he chickened out and went to drama school instead.

Years later he was working in America when, due to a string of lies he had been trying to impress girls with, he found himself performing his first stand-up comedy gig at the Friars Club in Beverly Hills. Since then he has not looked back and now plays some of the biggest clubs in the UK.

Looking further ahead, a heavy metal drummer-turned comedian will bring his stand-up show to Wolverhampton's Slade Rooms for a headline gig on September 5. Steve Hughes will appear at the venue, direct from shows in Sydney Melbourne, Brisbane and New Zealand Comedy Festivals. Venue spokesman Jonn Penney said: "The sublime Australian comic and ex heavy-metal drummer is returning to UK shores to embark upon his second solo tour.

"He stormed the UK last year with his sell-out debut tour, with extra dates added due to phenomenal demand.

"On TV, he's recently performed stellar sets on Live at the Apollo and Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow (BBC One), Stand Up For The Week (CH4) & One Night Stand (Dave).

"His brand new show features more thoughtful, outspoken social commentary courtesy of a masterful, erudite and provocative performer. Laid-back, effortlessly charming and caustically anti-establishment, he is a truly unique, world class performer." Hughes have won rave reviews with Metro saying: 'Hughes is Gold' and The Times describing his work as 'hard-edged social commentary at its best'.

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