Viv Ellis has a few laughs at new club

There’d been hints last week that there would be a “special guest” appearing this week. It was character comedian Simon Brodkin,in his cheeky “sarf London” working class wide boy. Lee Nelson character. His Well Good Show on BBC 3 makes me smile rather than laugh so I was interested to see how he’d get on without other characters to support him.

We had jokes on politics, drugs and religion - all designed to mock chav culture delivered from the point of view of Lee’s slightly dim cheeky chappie persona; “I took my little boy blackberry picking – at the Carphone Warehouse”. He did go down well just not particularly with me. But then I don’t like The Pub Landlord either.

Otiz Canneloni – a popular regular at Bearcat’s other venue in Twickenham – is an experienced, mixture of good, groan-worthy jokes and Tommy Cooper style magic. It’s a tried and tested formula but his years of experience on the circuit really shine through.  

I was quite close to the front – and he did a card trick that really had me scratching my head too (no, that wasn’t where the card was).  Maybe, as he’d joked earlier, his jacket did have 52 pockets.

Star of the night was Ealing’s own Shapp Khorsandi. Instantly likeable, she joked about a lot of personal stuff -  like being a single mum “I’m hopeless at ending relationships, so I thought having a baby would do it all nice and neatly” mixed with private education, making and keeping friends and being able to drink again after being pregnant. She seemed genuinely happy to see comedy back at The Viaduct “it’s my manor, I can walk home” and threw in a lot of local references into her act.  Her comment about the ‘Queen of the Suburbs’ brought the house down as did her ridiculing Richmond dwellers “you're not in London, it’s Surrey” and how Hanwell is ‘The Badlands’ compared with Pitshanger “Can people really afford to buy houses there?”

From the end of the month she’s taking a show called “Because I’m Shappi” on an extensive tour all over the country including 12 nights at the Soho Theatre (from November 17th) she’s well worth catching.

Again, the club was packed, (and very hot) but if you are quick off the mark here are the acts that are coming up at The Viaduct.

Fri 26th Sept: Sean Meo. Jojo Smith, Bennett Arron + TBC

Fri 3rd Oct: Stefano Paolini, Angie Mcevoy, Sheraz Yousef.

Fri 10th Oct: Ricky Grover. Romesh Ranganathan. Susan Murray. Brian Higgins.

Fri 17th Oct: Dave Johns. Paul McCaffrey. Mitch Benn. James Dowdeswell.

Fri 24th Oct: Erich Mcelroy. Gordon Southern. Kate Lucas. Russell Hicks.

Fri 31st Oct: Geoff Norcott. Sol Bernstein. Mark Silcox. + Tbc

To book tickets e-mail james@bearcatcomedy.co.uk stating which night you want, then pay at the door (if your tickets are confirmed)

Tickets are £13 & a one off membership fee of £2, with a limit of four tickets per person.

There’s also a Facebook page: Bearcat Comedy at the Viaduct

23rd September 2014