STAND UP COMEDY ON A MONDAY NIGHT? YOU’RE JOKING

By Trisha Cusack ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Press Invite

Monday nights don’t tend to be the designated weeknight out, but new comedy night, Stand Up at Sir!, is looking to change that.

Held at the Sir Devonshire Square hotel just off Liverpool Street, we were treated to an evening of laughs (some genuine, some awkward) that, as host Ali Woods alluded to, left us all feeling smug that we did something with our Monday nights that wasn’t just cooking dinner and watching TV.

The line-up saw comics Michelle Shaughnessy, Blank Peng, and Jeff Innocent (a last minute replacement for the original headliner, Charlie Baker) take to the stage and try to entertain a crowd of mostly working professionals who have just come straight from the office – not an easy challenge, I dare say.

The evening’s host, Ali Woods, is best known for his internet skits so it was great to see him in action in real life. He was the consummate host, welcoming the audience and chatting with some of the attendees. You never know if someone who you’ve only seen online is actually funny in person but luckily Woods was quick on the mark with his jokes, especially when he realised the first pair he spoke to were on a first date with very non-Liverpool Street-expected jobs.

First up to the mic was Michelle Shaughnessy, a Toronto-born comedienne whose set opened with how she finds living in the UK, and the reality of it versus when she came here on a visit. Her observations were spot on, frankly, and were made in that expected North American humour. The main focus of the set was around dating in London and how tough it is out there. I would say the content itself wasn’t revolutionary but it was still really funny. With the set only being about 15-20 minutes long, it certainly gave a good flavour of Shaughnessy’s work and she is someone I’d check out again.

The second act was bilingual comic Blank Peng who moved to the UK four years ago. Similar to Michelle, being an immigrant in the UK was a focal point with Peng discussing how hard it is to make friends in the UK. Peng’s humour was certainly on the darker side, with jokes about her grandmother being a bitch and child labour in China being at odds with the traditional “polite” British disposition. Some of the jokes, it felt, went over the audience’s head, with others touching a nerve. Jokes around Prince Andrew, racism in the UK, and UK politics were met with awkward laughter that Peng called out herself. Personally, as a mixed race non-Brit, I thought it was all hilarious, and I was free of that “oh I shouldn’t really laugh at this” feeling.

The final act of the night was Jeff Innocent, a very well-known name in the comedy scene. His set was truly a masterclass in that old-school, slightly crude, comedy that, let’s be real, only old white men can get away with. From the start, he was cracking jokes that from anyone else would be offensive. While at times he made fun of the audience for not understanding some of his jokes, I think the truth is people felt that they couldn’t laugh at them for already mentioned reasons, but that is the brilliance of good comedy. Yes, jokes can be slightly offensive, but if done well, such as the case of Innocent, it’s just funny. His set was slightly longer than the previous acts, as the headliner, so we got to sample a few different themes such as his Racist Grandad clothing line and his plight as someone who genetically looks racist but isn’t, having a Nigerian wife. My favourite bit was his observation that how you perceive people really depends on location and context, but I won’t spoil the joke.

As the Sir Devonshire Square hotel is not a typical comedy club venue, some better organisation, such as the seating arrangements and better timekeeping, would have made it a more comfortable and enjoyable experience. Nevertheless, it was a great line-up, and they got plenty of laughs out of me. This is only the second event of what hopes to become a regular series, so I look forward to seeing who will draw me out of my house on a Monday night in the near future.

Stand Up at Sir! was performed at Devonshire Square Hotel on Monday 10 August.

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