Comedian Alun Cochrane joined us at The Hyena Lounge comedy club (held at The Duchess) last week for a performance entitled A Show With A Man In It, thought up by his very young son, as well as being a pun on the concept of the one man show.

By Jane Howkins

Alun made it very clear from the beginning that his show was based around himself and his daily observations, which as he put it, were rather mediocre and boring. However, this was done very well, as whilst there were occasional moments when the show may have seemed boring (such as talking about washing his t-shirts), Alun soon turned this around by telling a hilarious joke and had a great stage demeanour which worked well within the setting. Alun also had a very self-depreciating sense of humour. Something that a lot of British comedians seem to play about with, but don’t always manage to pull off. Alun on the other hand managed this perfectly, with jokes about himself and the fact that the show wasn’t sold out timed well with observational jokes about the audience.

Some of Alun’s jokes did fall short for some members of the crowd, with a joke about Hitler and the 1940s perhaps not being to everyone’s taste (with Alun then jokily asking whether it was ‘too soon’). However, the majority of the jokes hit home and the show seemed to be mostly enjoyed by all.

Generally, a lot of comedy shows can seem too short, but with no interval and the topic of the show being the mundane and the boring, Alun seemed to time it just right. If it had been any longer it might have started to become boring, instead of being the witty show it was. It’s a rare feat that someone can make the concept of being boring so interesting, but Alun managed to do it very well!

 

Alun Cochrane performed at The Duchess on Wednesday 9 March 2016