Rich Hall,

Playhouse, 4th February 2001

I arrived late, and I walked in laughing. This was clearly a good sign, I thought - the audience was in hysterics right from the start, and I was no exception (even though I was late…and that's the beauty of stand-up comedy, you can pick it up at any point). The pace was fast and furious, and if you were only expecting a string of jokes, you were very wrong. The show was split into two distinct halves: firstly, Rich Hall as himself, with just a microphone for company; and for the second half, Rich Hall playing his favourite (and possibly more famous) alter ego, an uncle of his from Tennessee, Otis Lee Crenshaw, an American hick in and out of prison on a regular basis and a real fan of country and western music. And that's where the extra dimension came in: along with the regular stand-up routines we were treated to some fantastic music, usually accompanying ridiculous songs created, often on the spot, by Otis himself, played by two amiable Texans (one rather implausibly called Orson Carson): and of course, it was country and western (which I regard as a rather funny musical genre in itself. Sorry, all those fans out there).

As I see it, you've got to look for three things in a good stand-up comedian. First, you've got to have excellent material. Funny jokes, basically - but the subject matter can't be too repetitive even if all the jokes are massively entertaining. Hall's jokes were highly engaging, and thank the Lord, he didn't get hung up on sex which is so easy to do if you're desperately trying to get a cheap laugh. As it were. Some fell flat-ish, and none were exactly controversial or thought-provoking, but most of them were very funny. Secondly, we're looking for good style. Movement, expression and delivery - and if these all work well together. Obviously Hall has fantastic comic timing, and he's extremely well practised, although occasionally it's difficult to hear what he's saying - he can mumble into the microphone.

Thirdly, and this is where Hall excelled, is spontaneity. He made up rhymes and anecdotes and responded to the audience effortlessly, and hardly ever seemed to be working from pre-set material (though clearly sometimes he had to be). He picked names from the audience and made up ditties, rambled on about this and that, and got in hundreds of references to Oxford and surroundings - he'd clearly done his homework. All in all, it was a highly refreshing experience - stand-up comedy is something that the Playhouse doesn't often host - but this, I am glad to say, was a great success.

Sarah Montgomery, 4 / 2 / 01