On Monday night I went to see some intimate comedy at a drinking club I’ve been going to for a few years called Black’s in Soho. It’s spread over 3 floors of a Georgian house, and rumour has it that Joshua Reynolds and Dr Johnson had traded ideas, blows and beers in the very room in which the comedy was taking place. Panelled walls, flickering candles and a roaring fire.
The comics were Tom Basden and Tim Key. Tim won this year’s Perrier aren’t sponsoring it anymore award at Edinburgh, and he and Tom have worked as a semi double act for years. Their tone captures a wonderful understated Englishness. Each gag apparently stumbled over and bashfully, accidentally delivered- belying the deftness and timing of it all. I suppose it’s generally acknowledged that Richard Pryor is the Greatest Ever Stand Up- and his act is the voice of angry Black America. Tim and Tom’s voices are those of If It’s Not Too Much Trouble England.
Steve Show Posse 