Comedy news: Comedy Review: Reprieve's Laughter/Pain with Tim Minchin, Stewart Lee, Ed Byrne, Phill Jupitus and Robin Ince

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More often than not the roots of great comedy can be found in tragedy. The inner anguish of a comedian’s mind is full of thoughts and memories which, upon occasion, are spilled out in humorous form all in the name of entertainment.

So when some of the finest comedians from the UK and beyond gathered at the Lyceum on the Strand on Monday night for Reprieve’s Laughter / Pain charity fundraiser, it had a poignant touch.

No less than, Ed Byrne, Shappi Khorsandi, Robin Ince, Phill Jupitus, Isy Suttie, Andy Zaltzman, Kevin Eldon, Stewart Lee, and Tim Minchin were billed to provide a night of star-studded entertainment hosted by Reprieve chief Charles Starmer Smith himself and comedian Alistair Barrie. Each act was barely given more than a few minutes of stage time, but nethertheless most managed to find some sort of personal torture to share with their audience.

Byrne, who was the first to take to the stage, focussed mainly his new domestic nemesis – a cat, which his wife has adopted after finding it rifling through their bins. Though observations such as how his new pet has failed to live up to it’s vermin-catching capabilities were not that original, they were delivered in the style which has led Byrne to become one of the best live comedians in the past decade.

Robin Ince really took the idea of torture to heart. Arriving in what he described as a ‘good mood’ Ince first apologised in advance just in case he wasn’t able to deliver his usual style of rant-inspired comedy. 

In the end though the apology wasn’t needed. All it took as the mental image of a hundred or so geeks queuing for an iPad on the same week that Sex and The City 2 was released to make Ince curl up in loathing; venting his spleen over the tech porn for geeks, forgetting how long he’d been on, and realising that “It didn’t take long to get warmed up at all did it?’ and contradicting himself by saying: “I’m sorry I wanted to be happy tonight but I’m angry.”

Next up was Isy Suttie who endeared herself to the crowd with a vocally dexterous version of Amy Winehouse singing Rehab while stuck down a well in Kennington Park before moving on to her own personal version of torture; the home furnishing department of Ikea.

Phill Jupitus’ own personal problems include some fatherhood trouble. Like Byrne, Jupitus has also had to contend with a new arrival to his household. However unlike Byrne, it isn’t a feline snooping around his bin, it’s his daughters’ boyfriend claiming territorial rights to his fridge – albeit with some cheap lidl lager. 

Though he started his short set looking like he’d walked through a wrong door, Jupitus soon built a steady momentum: “We’re all complicit in this ridiculous charade and I know he’s fucking my daughter, and now I have to contend with generic lager in my fridge. My Fridge. I own a Prosecco worth £80 for fuck’s sake.” 

The half ended with Jupitus with a unique way to allude to torture, bringing on the all-girl cabaret Trio The La Di Da’s to sing a version of Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (rather than a real one we assume). 

Other performers of note included Andy Zaltzman, who aimed in his brief slot to solve the world’s problems and came closest to providing a genuine dialogue about terrorism in his set and Shappi Khorsandi was put in a good performance despite being put off from the start when the audience sang happy birthday to her.

Kevin Eldon also made a rare live appearance with two songs about bullying and respect, and how music can be used for torture, even if it is a skipping CD is bad enough. 

However the two heavy weight acts of the evening were saved until last. As one of the finest racounters in the world Stewart Lee’s ability to take a subject - let’s say moving to the countryside - and deride it to such lengths that it almost becomes an art form in itself. And it so well delivered that, if he wasn’t on stage, would probably get him sectioned.

Ripping into the dull lives of his friends who have decided to up sticks and move out of Hackney, Lee highlights the desperate pawing for attention they crave when they realise that living in Stoke-Ham-by-Bow is actually very dull and none of their friend want to visit. 

Lee isn’t a fan of emigrants either, turning the usual prejudiced calls around to ask for a cap on how many people should be allowed to leave the country rather than move in, Lee concluded his set by repeating the word prawns for so long even he couldn’t take it seriously.

By the time Minchin came one for the finale the crowd had obviously had their comedy appetite sated and were looking for entertainment, almost heckling in anticipation. 

The odd quips from the auditorium even had Minchin saying, ‘I’m not having a good night Shappi, it feels like a huge Jongleurs’, before settling down to provide the Lyceum with versions of ‘Only a ginger can call another ginger ginger’ and ‘If I didn’t have you’ as well as new piece chastising the Pope with a song which – if it wasn’t for it’s crude lyrics – was almost childishly innocent enough in tone and structure to lure many an Irish vicar.

Minchin has become so big now that he can probably even afford to hire a roady to bring on the fan he uses during his finale instead of crouching down mid-set to find the plug, ( He won’t, we asked).

All in all Laughter / Pain lived up to the billing by providing hours of top notch entertainment  - any more and it would have felt like torture.

Tim Clark