Review: Hal Cruttenden picks up ‘suitable victims’ and adds a mix of the cuddly and convivial comedy sketches with a sting in the tail
Do you dread being in the audience for a stand-up comedian show and being picked on?
Best stay clear of sitting in the front row of the current nationwide tours by Hal Cruttenden (pictured above) and Frank Skinner.
Both comics came to Bury St Edmunds this week – Skinner, who recognises he is among the “old guard” of stand-ups, was at the Theatre Royal while Cruttenden (perhaps now more medium-wave than new-wave) held court at the Apex, on Wednesday (April 22).
Substantial parts of their acts involved perusing the front seats for “suitable victims”.
Skinner was repeatedly drawn to the walrus-like moustache of one elderly man while Cruttenden (recently divorced) seemed fascinated in the relationships of several couples close to the stage.
You could argue this form of comedy – getting laughs from ridiculing audience members – saves the comedian from coming up with a set of new material but it still works.
Or are we chortling partly in relief, thinking “thank goodness he hasn’t got his sights on me”?
Cruttenden only just made it to the Apex in time as he had been caught up in M25 traffic.
Compared to his last appearance in Bury about three years ago when he was composed, allowing his subtle jokes time to breath, this time he was more frantic.
His persona is a mix of the cuddly and convivial with a sting in the tail – or in his case tale.
The fallout from his marriage breakup has certainly given scope for gags about his self-confessed inadequacies and (since the new man in his wife’s life is a firearms officer) police forces across the world.
Oh, and since his former wife is Irish that nation gets an affectionate send-up too.
Having called his tour “Hal Cruttenden: Can Dish It Out But Can’t Take It” he adheres to the first part of that statement by unleashing a salvo of thoughts and barbs against Trump, and politics in general, during the latter half of his show.
“If you are right wing you might look to stick your fingers in your ears for the next 10 minutes but don’t press too hard you might meet in the middle,” he warns.
What appeared to be a middleground (politically) audience laughed along.
Having warned some twentysomethings in the stalls that he feared for their futures in an ever turbulent world he was amusingly rebuked by their answers.
Presuming they were weighed down by student debt and struggling for work he was told two had set up a successful green energy company and another was a chartered surveyor.
This was a case of dishing it out but the star of the show did take their responses in good humour.
“I enjoy coming to Bury St Edmunds,” said Cruttenden while taking selfies of the audience at the end of the show.
“I’m playing Diss in the summer if anyone wants to come along.”
Cue chorus of boos at the mention of this Norfolk town.
“I like how communities get quite tribal about their neighbours,” he chuckled before leaving the stage to much applause.