I went to see visiting American comedian Sarah Silverman last night at the Hammersmith Apollo. I got there just in time to see the last 45 minutes of her set which was also the first 45 minutes of her set. Still, at least I knew all the material as it's all in her TV series and DVD. And it was a pinch at £40 a ticket. Luckily we didn't have to sit through a support act because the one that was booked pretended he was ill even though he'd actually missed his plane. All this PLUS we got to see the STARS of Mighty Boosh! I mean, not the star stars but two people who were in some of the episodes. They came on stage to introduce an introduction to a video montage that was brilliantly long and fantastically made no sense. All in all, it was a great night out because Sarah Silverman is the kind of performer who puts her fans first; she gives value for money to the people and doesn't stand on stage spouting racist abuse at them. I wonder why I feel completely Jewed?
Racism and rip-offs aside, it was actually a good night. Not the gig, it was shit and Silverman should hang her head in shame. In a noose. In a volcano. In a bomb. She's a great performer and very funny and her TV show is mostly great but coming over to do a one off huge UK gig that cost loads of money to get into and not do a scrap of fucking work is just embarrassing. Not as embarrassing as she was during her encore which I dearly hope ends up on YouTube, but horribly embarrassing all the same. Anyway, that to one side, it really was a good night because as soon as Sarah Silverman said "Go home" (fucking charming) we legged it to the pub. The pub magically turned itself into a very angry Groucho Club full of comedians who started off thinking that the gig was OK but quickly turned against it like a pack of drunk wolves. Even the lovely Lucy Porter wanted to kick Silverman's face in and she's lovely. I say she's lovely, she introduced me to David Walliams last night. I'll never forgive her for that, the lovely bitch.
The thing is, I was really looking forward to this show, probably more so than I should have. I'm such a big fan that I suppose no matter what she would have done I might have moaned about it but this was such an enormous Fuck You that I feel almost...I don't know...hurt? I was talking about it all weekend and getting very excited about going. I mean, she's huge, it's bound to be brilliant. Then, at the venue itself, seeing other comedians around I just felt such a buzz of something big happening. I mean, if Josh Howie is there to see her then she must be about to do something amazing. In fact, if she hadn't turned up then at least I'd still have that feeling of "great...something exciting happening in comedy". But she did and I don't. I knew every word, every joke. All 45 minutes of it. It wasn't like going to see a TV star it was like going to see a TV show. If the Comic Relief/Dance episode of The Office ever does a one-off gig at the o2 I won't be going. I've learned.
2 comments:
Just read about this on mediaguardian, and went looking for a blog of someone who was there.
You are there for us - thanks for a cracking post.
This is very disappointing, I thought she might have made a bit of an effort as most of what she does is real quality IMO. I caught the end of '8 out of 10 cats' and she was hilarious...
Possibly the 'edgy' stuff just comes across as nasty if you feel like she's a money-grabbing bee-utch; I mean 'Go Home!' as a mock-rude goodbye would be funny if she'd just done 3 hours. Less so if she's only done 45 minutes.
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