Review: Live at Christmas: Dylan Moran, Rosie Jones, Mike Wozniak, Celya AB, John Robins
An impressive line-up of top comedians came to the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Thursday, December 15, for a Christmas comedy extravaganza.
Five large Christmas trees adorned the stage and the venue was full of people, of varying ages, seeking fun and laughter on a bitterly cold winter’s night.
Compere John Robbins immediately got the crowd laughing with his audience interaction, during which he managed to ascertain that the vast majority of people in the venue were from Cambridge, apart from two who live here but also have German passports. “This is probably the most boring conversation I’ve ever had,” he joked.
He introduced Rosie Jones on to the stage. Rosie has had a pretty good year, professionally speaking, and this was something she later alluded to. She provided some funny moments, recalling what it was like performing in the school Nativity play as a child with cerebral palsy, and also shared jokes about her disability and her sexuality which had impressive build-ups (something she's renowned for) - particularly one about the game rock, paper, scissors.
Next up, after some highly amusing lockdown stories from the Partridge-esque John Robbins - who it has to be said is hilarious - was French Algerian comic Celya AB. She talked about why she moved from Paris to Birmingham in 2014, among other things, and provided some acute observations on British people and Britishness.
Mike Wozniak, a regular face on TV's Taskmaster, couldn’t have been more different, with his routine consisting of him basically telling a long story which went on so many tangents, that it almost became impossible to follow. Needless to say, much of it was laugh-out-loud funny in its bizarreness. It’s easy to see why his show at the Cambridge Junction next March has already sold out.
The final act of the evening was Dylan Moran, who seemed a little bit worse-for-wear. The last time I saw him, a few years ago, I had been left somewhat disappointed - but this time I enjoyed it much more. The bleakness of his musings was something that instantly drew me in and the left-field conclusions to many of his stories and observations were certainly not what I expected.
[Read more: Harry Hill: ‘I’ll leave them punch-drunk with a very silly show’, Catherine Bohart interview: ‘Eating is my only hobby...’]
For the second part of his set, the casually-dressed comedian and actor sat at a piano and played it in a weirdly appealingly disjointed way - no cheery melodic run-throughs of seasonal favourites here - meaning it sounded a bit like jazz improvisation, while he semi-rambled away, sharing thought on being middle aged and parts of his anatomy, and drank beer. It turns out that jazz is just hitting random keys over a Bontempi beat - but I think we all knew that deep down.
As the show came to an end, with John Robbins bidding us all goodnight and Merry Christmas, it seemed as though a fun time had been had by all. Highlights for me? John Robbins and Dylan Moran.
