Russell Kane Chorley Little Theatre 20 May 2012

Russell Kane packed more into a sixty minute set at Chorley Little Theatre than most stand ups manage in two hours but, as he said himself, he does talk at twice the speed of most comics.  He was off to Blackpool for a charity gig after his Chorley appearance and the rate at which he delivers his act was like being on a seaside rollercoaster.


Barely pausing for breath during his Manscaping set he leapt about the stage in an athletic performance.  He mimicked everything from Olympic mum door knocking, which featured audience members Amanda from Chorley against a woman from North Carolina, to Lancastrians being poisoned by drinking Yorkshire Tea.  He also collapsed to the floor as he imagined Northern women crawling gratefully out of the bedroom and into the garden to hug a warm rock because their men won’t.


In truth, it wasn’t just Northern men who were the subject of his material but men in general.  He talked about his relationship with his father, how women deal with relationship crises better and mothers’ relationships with their sons.  He painted telling portraits of men getting grumpier as they get older, which for some reason led my partner to prod me quite hard, and how they find his material less funny as the evening wears on and their bladders get fuller.


Going to the loo during a Russell Kane set is a risky business, as you are likely to be teased as you leave the room and talked about when you're not in it.  When one woman admitted that the man next to her was her brother but that she didn't know him, Kane wondered if they'd been brought up at different foster homes.  Even the intelligent looking chap who tried to make himself inconspicuous by ducking down as he left the auditorium was not immune, with Kane imitating him wondering 'is he going to do anything with prime numbers?'  On learning that a teenage audience member he was talking to was called Cavan, Kane wondered if he'd been found in a cave and went off on a riff about how Lancashire children are discovered near the cliffs: 'And this is our daughter Igneous Bed.'


He finished with a story about the snobbery that he encountered on a first class train journey to Cambridge with a final twist that, although slightly predictable, was still funny.


Whilst there was plenty afterwards, there wasn't a lot of applause during Russell Kane's set - he just doesn't give his audience time to stop and reflect before firing off the next gag.


Trains also featured in the set of Kane's support, Iain Stirling, or more particularly getting locked in the toilet of one with a fellow passenger.  The story had the person next to me crying with laughter. Edinburgh born Stirling also neatly wove together stories about his Auntie Pam, a drunken punter at a Newcastle gig and his mate's posh girlfriend.  Stand ups at Chorley don’t always feature a support act, but Stirling was well worth his twenty five minute slot.


Together, Kane and Stirling were a winning combination and the best night's comedy at Chorley Little Theatre for a while.