Thursday 22 August 2013

Bob Slayer - Worldwide Bawbag ****

If you are looking for a typical run of the mill night of stand up comedy, then avoid Bob Slayer at all costs.

He is anything but normal. In the past I've seen him pin a dart board to his naked body and let audience members throw real, full weight darts at him.

I've been dragged on stage by him, dressed up as Freddie Mercury and made to sing "We Will Rock You" in front of a packed audience at the Laughing Horse launch Party about 3 years ago.

I've seen him dress up someone as a chicken and someone else as an egg to see who would come first in an arm wrestle.

I've seen him walk in to a crowd of 20 Americans and announce that he was going to speak slowly "Because they are stuuuuupid".

He's also famous for breaking his neck whilst crowd surfing in a wheelie bin at a festival.

All these antics were fairly late on in the evening and we found a slightly more subdued Bob Slayer at 16.45 in his Bookshop, a venue he is running which is more like a house party for stand up comedians the rest of the day/night.

But don't be fooled! A subdued Bob is still far more lively than most comedians. In this hour he managed to convince a woman at the front to admit that she had drunk breast milk (the story that led up to that is a cracker) and he challenged me to take off my Rolling Stones T-Shirt if I couldn't name 5 songs released by them in the 60's including B-sides. He admitted defeat after I named three because I seemed to know what I was talking about and proved I wasn't just wearing it as a fashion statement.

The remainder of the hour was taken up with stories about his time touring with semi famous bands, including a great tale about the time he decided that the comedy night he was about to perform at was a bit too bland so he decided to abseil off a balcony to get on stage.

I'll be honest, I was close to giving three stars rather than four simply because his show was so comparatively tame compared to every other show I've seen of his and it didn't exceed my mayhem expectations, but it wouldn't do him justice. He's still well worth listening to during the day!

But if you like a comedy night to resemble a hilarious drunken party rather than a live at the Apollo gig, I would recommend going to see his late show rather than this one because judging from the stories I've heard, he hasn't calmed down and you'll see the real Bob Slayer in full flow. Something every comedy fan should experience at least once in their lives!

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