Monday 10 November 2014

VIDEO: Frank Skinner - Man in a Suit tour



A seven year hiatus had not dulled Frank Skinner’s prowess as a top class stand-up, certainly not on the evidence of the show I witnessed at Watford's Colosseum.


The Midlands comic’s ambling stage walk, easy-going rapport with audience members and lightning fast wit, showed that while a new generation of comedians have taken to the stage, there is much they can learn from the older guard.

At 57, Skinner’s act has matured, like the man himself and there were fairly clean-cut jokes about relationships, money and religion.

But the show opened with near-the-knuckle fodder about the conviction of Rolf Harris and others.

“It must be a novelty to see a grey-haired celebrity still at large”, the Brummie told his audience, at the Hertfordshire venue.

But smutty anecdotes have always been one of Skinner’s most hilarious staples.

As he said before the tour, which is entitled Man in a Suit: “I still do a bit of filth on stage.

“If I didn’t that would be like Bernie Clifton not performing with his ostrich.”


And it was the “filth” which got the biggest laughs.

In an era where comics tend to be backslapping right-on, point-makers, rather than just funny, this blast from the past was like a breath of fresh air.
And the brutal honesty of the recollections, which have long been the most potent weapon in Frank Skinner’s armoury, were abundantly evident again here.

It would not be hyperbole to describe ‘Man in a Suit’ as a masterclass in the art of stand-up.
 

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