Share

Stewart Lee's a great compère, and one who clearly cares about the cause (he's done regular shows on Resonance, as have most of the other performers). Apologising for the lack of Mr. Kitson - some kind of family emergency - he reads out a note from the acerbic Yorkshireman which details everything he loves about Resonance FM. This includes: the fact that the key to the toilet has a tambourine attached, that his show has only six listeners, and the station's cavalier attitude to the disabled (the stairs to the studio are prohibitively steep).

 

Kitson's affectionate mocking sets the tone for the rest of the night. His replacement, headliner Chris Addison, applauds us all for getting here, seeing as we're all obviously, as Resonance listeners, vegan, and might well have simply collapsed on the way to the tube. "That's how homeless people happen," he tells us. ("Is that wrong? No, that's coruscating social comment!")

 

Addison, although not his usual word-perfect self (hyperactive and wild-eyed, he looks like he might have had a few before he hit the stage) is the night's undeniable highlight. Blessed with a quicker and sharper wit than your average fighter pilot, he rants against democracy, opinion text-ins and Wikipedia with vitriolic glee.

"TV's Stephan Merchant", who was roped in at the last minute, did the same schtick he did on Comic Relief (okay, okay, they're both good causes) - playing the shameless, vain and self-promoting star who brings along signed photos of himself, copies of Extras and The Office ("out to buy now!") and has several awards in the record bag slung over his gangly frame. "Well, you've got to keep them somewhere, and when you've got as many as I have…"

 

Josie Long had some great new material mixed in with the old. Having heard a performance poet talking about making one's weaknesses into strengths and celebrating them as part of the person you are, she tells us about her polycystic ovaries and how they're linked to her difficultly in losing weight. Just when the audience is awkwardly hushed, she lifts up her t-shirt to reveal the word 'marvellous' scrawled across her belly, on which she's drawn the ocean in marker-pen. She prods it to make it wobble. It's the kind of silly humour with a deeper point that she excels in.

 

Isy Suttie's exploration of the twists of meaning that Google translator can give a simple sentence, and Earl Steven's brilliant character sketch as an American circuit veteran whose jokes exclusively reference obscure bits of US culture both deserve a mention too, in a night that turned out to be a resounding success. Let's hope Resonance made enough to help it stay afloat - as Stewart Lee said: "it's the only place you can hear people being asphyxiated on air, while broadcasting the sound of melting ice."