Before I steam in as the opinionated newbie giving his unwanted opinion on the state of standup, was anyone else at the BBC Wales "standup showcase" at Machynlleth Comedy Festival on Sat 4th May? 
There were about 500 people in the audience, so I suppose there's a chance. What did you think?
Either way, am I OK to post a few things which have been rattling around my little head since then?
Quote: lardconcepts @ 7th May 2019, 3:12 PMam I OK to post a few things . . . ?
It's rare that I feel able to speak for everybody on BCG but I think I'm fairly safe in saying it's okay for you to post a few things.
A quick look through some of the existing threads will give you an indication of the extent to which freedom of speech is respected and encouraged.
Sadly, I wasn't at the Machynlleth Comedy Festival on Sat 4th May but I hear the biggest laugh came when an Englishman fell over and broke his leg.
Please do share!
OK, here goes!
My thoughts on the "Saturday Night BBC Radio Wales Showcase"... (I do eventually get to my point at the end)
Nish "Not Romesh" Kumar was outstanding, but perhaps a little optimistic when he promised at the start that "it's all killer, no duds here tonight". Lineup was never published, and I forget names easily, so...
First guy (from South Africa) has a strong set and the lady from Finland brought the second half alive, but apart from that and the headline act (more in a moment) well, let's just say. the audience were generous and no-one died, but it was awkward at times as several of the acts wouldn't have survived the first minute of a gong show, and overheard conversations let me know I wasn't alone in that conclusion. I think a lot of people were expecting "Showcase" to be perhaps 10 minute sets from some of the big-name acts who had full shows earlier in the day.
In previous years, the free BBC Radio 4 Extra showcase had been such a strong lineup that I'd been expecting a 2.5 hour long £15 "BBC Radio Wales Standup Showcase" to be more of the same. I suspect this is why they didn't publish the lineup in advance, it was just "Who?" as each act was brought on.
There was a guy who did some sort of never ending striptease where he kept taking his shirt of and there was another shirt underneath and then.. well, that was the act. Is that "standup comedy"?
And at one point, a bloke came on, stood there, got a sheet of paper out and very slowly read the joke about an inflatable boy at an inflatable school which is AT LEAST 20 years old, and then left.
Kind of felt a little bit contemptuous of a paying audience. Like an email had gone out saying "Anyone free tonight for a small town gig? £20 and a pint for a middle ten. Just wander on and read a joke or something. It'll be late so the audience won't care".
It's not like there wasn't the budget - 500 tx at £15 gave them £7.5k to play with, maybe £5k after costs, No idea but say £1k for Nish and £500 for Watson maybe?! so where did the rest go?!
George Fouracres was one of the only other "names" I remember, from hearing him on The Now Show. And let me tell you, he was just as funny live as he is on the radio. He did some kind of experimental "telling black country jokes" bit, but that's all that stood out.
Fortunately, Nish was on-hand between acts to carry the show. He didn't just carry it, he sprouted Icarus-like wings and flew with it into the light, burning hecklers on the way.
His audience work was top notch, and when he got totally caught by a wit in the first row with a cling film joke, Nish latched on and vowed to destroy him which he did with huge dollops of savage but light hearted banter.
When Nish drew the attention of a pissed heckler, he didn't just burn him, he roasted, toasted and flamed him to a cinder. Out of the mouth of any other act, phrases like "I earn too much to be doing this sh*t - I've earned the right for you to respect me" would almost certainly come across as arrogant, but Nish just made it a masterclass in heckler-burning. I'd say he was pretty close to being on a par with Stephen Grant and Mark Olver, and that's saying something.
Despite the fact that it was getting close to 1am, the headline act was WELL worth waiting for, and we were rewarded with "Mark Watson makes the gig substantially better".
Whether or not, as he claimed, he'd really only just been roped in 2 hours before didn't matter - he did the typical affable bumbling, confused stream of consciousness flying off at multiple tangents. And we loved it!
So, a surprisingly low key line-up propped up by enough good stuff to make it all OK on balance.
What's the point of this post? Well, I'm not suggesting for one moment that I want to hark back to the days of mother in law jokes, but it does seems to be that "sketch" type comedy, inverted racism and saying "c**t" a lot seems to pass for more and more of the live standup I see these days.
It's always been the case that local open mic nights carried the chance that a good third of the acts were there working through their own mental health issues or basically confusing "standup audience out for comedy" with "group of people who want to hear my political views". As Simon Evans recently said on his Radio 4 show "Goes to Market", 'If the audience wanted to listen to pro-Marx sentiments, they'd be listening to The News Quiz.'
But is it my imagination or is this basically more and more part of "the circuit"?
That's it really! Consider my angst vented. Flameproof suit is on - go for it!
Interesting analysis! Don't think you'll be shot down in flames at all. Difficult to come at it from an outsiders' perspective, but what you describe seems entirely in keeping with your comments. Maybe unsurprisingly!
However, I think this was an event organised by the festival and held within the BBC Radio Wales Arena, rather than a BBC event? The BBC's one was broadcast on Monday night, and hosted by Kiri, not Nish.
https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/machynlleth_festival_showcase/episodes/8/1/
You could be very right about the name of the Arena - I just assumed that as it had "BBC Wales" projected on large screens either side, that it was a BBC Wales thing. https://machcomedyfest.co.uk/show/2019/saturday-night-showcase-bbc-radio-wales-mach-arena/
Regarding the broadcast showcase, that was the one I couldn't find in the programme and had wanted to go to last year as it was so good (and free) but as soon as I clicked you link and saw the lineup included Kemah Bob realise I dodged a bullet, and a very quick listen confirms it! Thanks!
Quote: lardconcepts @ 8th May 2019, 3:07 PMYou could be very right about the name of the Arena - I just assumed that as it had "BBC Wales" projected on large screens either side, that it was a BBC Wales thing. https://machcomedyfest.co.uk/show/2019/saturday-night-showcase-bbc-radio-wales-mach-arena/
Regarding the broadcast showcase, that was the one I couldn't find in the programme and had wanted to go to last year as it was so good (and free) but as soon as I clicked you link and saw the lineup included Kemah Bob realise I dodged a bullet, and a very quick listen confirms it! Thanks!
I would guess it was ticketed through the BBC website and not programmed - or listed - formally as part of the festival proper.