Chris Ramsey The 20/20 Tour Review – Hackney Empire
Critically acclaimed stand-up comedian Chris Ramsey is currently embarking on his biggest tour yet with The 20/20 Tour. A regular face on TV, you may have seen him guest hosting on The One Show and Little Mix: The Search. Or maybe from 2019 when he danced his way to the Strictly Come Dancing semi-finals where he finished fourth. He has performed on The Royal Variety Performance, and hosted episodes of Live At The Apollo on Comedy Central. On Friday I went to Hackney Empire to see Chris Ramsey The 20/20 Tour.
The tour was supported by Carl Hutchinson, a fellow Geordie and childhood friend of Chris Ramsey. Carl warmed up the crowd nicely with comedic tales of stag dos and ordering food when drunk. We were clearly amongst a crowd of drinker as no one batted an eyelid at his pre-flight drinking habits. On one particular stag do he told us of the time he was refused service because he was at… passport control. He was very funny, but I do wish he looked at the audience more as he often looked at the floor.
After a quick interval where we took the chance to grab another drink it was time for the main act. Chris Ramsey came on stage and immediately clocked a woman sat in one of the front rows on her phone. He said he usually doesn’t interact with the audience directly so quickly, but he’d make an exception for her. He was able to make the audience laugh pointing it out but without making it too awkward.
And talking of awkward, Chris was none too pleased that he was coming on stage in 2021 with his 2020 tour. But better than never getting to do the tour at all and then we would have all missed out massively. Chris has boundless energy and puts his all into his performance with personal anecdotes and moments from his life. He had the whole audience laughing out loud throughout the show. Especially when he begged us to not to message his wife about any family jokes that will get him in trouble.
You may have heard of his wife Rosie Ramsey, an experience presenter, actor, author, and podcaster. Together they host the widely successful podcast Shagged, Married, Annoyed and Chris pulls from this at times during the show. Despite having not listened to it previously I was still able to appreciate Chris’s jokes relating to it. There was a load of comedy drawn from tales of his family and marriage which I was worried I wouldn’t relate to. But despite being single without kids Chris had me constantly belly laughing.
Prior to seeing Chris Ramsey’s 20/20 Tour I did not have a lot of experience with his comedy style. But I’m so glad that I got to see the show as I’m definitely a new fan of Chris. I would highly recommend booking a ticket to his show if you get a chance. He is also currently touring his podcast Shagged, Married, Annoyed with his wife Rosie which I’ll be seeing this evening. After a tough 18 months it was great to spend the evening with the only thing on the agenda being to enjoy myself and laugh. You can purchase your tickets for Chris Ramsey 20/20 Tour on his website now. Carl Hutchinson is also about to embark on his own tour with all new content so take a look at his dates too.
