Ed Gamble Electric Tour Review – Hackney Empire

Ed Gamble has made his return to the comedy scene with his brand-new stand-up show Electric. Ed has become known for his award-winning hit podcast Off Menu with James Acaster and winning season nine of Taskmaster. But Ed Gamble has now returned to the stage and reminded audiences of his stand-up comedy skills. On Friday I went to Hackney Empire for the first night of Ed’s new show Electric.

The tour was supported by Chloe Petty, co-founder of The Lol Word, a queer comedy collective. Boasting the finest female and non-binary queer acts on the circuit they host monthly London comedy nights. Chloe has a carefree, laddish approach to her comedy and is regularly mistaken for being a man. But she loves her masculine side and embraces it in a way that is very relatable and humorous. She pulled comedy from her life as a vegetarian lesbian, in a new relationship, and was very relatable in her routine.

She had the audience laughing with tales of her mum calling her up when there’s hot lesbians on the tv. And one particularly funny tale was when she accidentally took lube instead of hand sanitiser onto the bus. Her Bluetooth headphones hadn’t connected, and a murder podcast was playing out loud whilst she realised her lube mistake. If you’re not laughing at the image of this scenario then all hope for your funny bone may be lost.

Following Chloe’s set it was time for Ed Gamble to take to the stage. And in a surprising entrance he came on stage to some heavy metal music and strobe lights. It was a completely different vibe to what I associate with Ed’s image and comedy. But even Ed himself said it may have been a bit much and that he would tire of it as the tour went on. Turns out though that Ed is a big heavy metal fan and had always wanted a way into the scene.

He told the audience of a time when he was invited to perform at download on the comedy stage. Finally, his chance to step into that world has come but it soon became clear he was not at home. Instead of laughing they screamed at each joke which was slightly terrifying for Ed. And when he started doing his diabetes routine, they screamed for him to bleed on stage and show them. It was all going well until he smeared the blood on his forehead, and his heavy entry was swiftly revoked.

Ed’s routine pulled from his experience of lockdown with his now wife and the run up to their postponed wedding. Including an at home hen do that he threw despite it being just the two of them there. Turns out you can only buy penis straws in bulk and a same penis forever sign isn’t as funny when it’s from your husband. He also discussed how his content was recently shared by CBeebies, so his new fan base is 0-6. Which is quite surreal when you’ve just heard a man mention that he owns 40 penis straws.

The audience learnt that Ed Gamble has an extreme love for bowling and the buffet at budget hotels. He had a whole section dedicated to each and really went in on his personal routine at the buffet. Which included a conspiracy theory about the eggs and a 90-year-old chicken called Maureen. It concluded in what some may describe as a breakdown over the pastry selection. He took on the personality of a pan au chocolate, complete with accent, and closed the show with it.

There were a lot of laughs throughout the show, and I really enjoyed both comedians. It was nice to see Ed Gamble return to his comedy roots and see him do it justice. I saw his previous tour Blizzard and was not disappointed and spent the majority of the show laughing. Chloe Petts was a new comedian for me, but I also enjoyed her set. I would definitely recommend booking the Electric Tour to see the both of them. Chloe also has her own show Transience coming to Soho Theatre at the beginning of May if you’d like to see her.