Review: Rawhide Comedy at Contemporary Urban Centre Liverpool

Gribbin, Stanley, Egg and Wilkinson

For sixteen years Rawhide Comedy club has called many venues across the city 'home'. To date enjoying surroundings in the Life cafe, Barcelona bar, The Royal Court main auditorium and its basement bar, and now at the Contemporary Urban Centre.

Staged in the ground floor of the spacious old warehouse building (situated opposite Cains Brewery), wooden tables seating up to four at a time are dotted with candles, and surveys inviting the audience to fill out pros and cons of the fresh premises to contain Rawhide's mirth. Top marks for the friendly table service and speedy bar staff which made a brilliant start to the evening as we settled in and waited for the giggles to take hold.

Unfortunately the giggles were yet to arrive throughout the first act. George Egg did little to capitalise on the light laughs he drew from the crowd with some cracking visual gags involving a very large suitcase and some surprisingly fresh material on Professor Stephen Hawking. A promising act with a very easy-going style, it was a shame most of his humour fell flat but perhaps it was simply time to get back to the bar.

Holding the night together was MC Mike Wilkinson, a cheeky chappy from Leigh, warming the audience up nicely with an amiable Northern charm, regaling the crowd with most unusual setting for a North West heckle when recently gigging in Hong Kong - "You're still a wooly back" - came the droll shout in a thick scouse accent. Lucky for Mike this scouse crowd felt no need to dwell on this point and its universal truth. Well-timed banter with a stag do, a long-suffering couple married 42 years, and various birthday celebrations made for a fairly quiet evening of audience participation in comparision with previous Saturday nights I've witnessed at Rawhide.

Second up was the very talented Stan Stanley, with expert comic timing he whipped the audience into a frenzy of laughter centring his act around his mother, her obsession with asking impossible questions about food ("What colour do you want your tea?") and his uncomfortable trepidation when indulging her in hugs due to the size of her large breasts. Controlled, confidence delivery throughout any lesser laughs made Stanley the true highlight of the night, and he was certainly a hard act to follow.

Local favourite Steve Gribbin rocked up to the mic as headline act. Bursting with energy, he launched into guitar ditties focused on Liverpool as the Capital of Culture and some topical humour regards Nick Clegg, Cameron and Gaddafi. Sadly the gags felt somewhat strained and certainly nothing fresh for us to sink our teeth into. The crowd's majority reaction however was of sheer delight as Gribbin bashed out his punchlines (quite literally, accidentally punching the microphone stand he drew blood) and returned for an encore to a rousing reception.

There's danger the large stage at the CUC could somewhat dwarf one man (or woman) on the mic as opposed to traditionally smaller comedy venues, but the atmosphere was electric and I'm sure the best is yet to come as the CUC is certainly proving itself well and truly warmed-up to play host to Rawhide comedy.

7/10

Rawhide shows at CUC begin at 8pm and run until 11pm Friday and Saturday, if you are planning to eat please arrive no later than 7pm.

Ticket Prices:
Friday £12 (£22 including meal)
Saturday £15 (£25 including meal)
For tickets call 0870 787 1866 or visit www.rawhidecomedy.com

Contemporary Urban Centre
41 – 51 Greenland Street (off Jamaica Street)
Liverpool L1 0BS

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