Hal Cruttenden, as his name suggests – and by his own admission – is an upper-middle class wimp. He also happens to sound exactly like Tony Blair, but don’t let that put you off, because unless our Perma-smile PM also has an uncontrollable fear of mice, that’s where the similarity ends.
There’s no paucity of high-quality humour here. Even during Cruttenden’s mediocre moments, there’s a safe assurance that there’s a little something ominously lurking in wait that’s going to cause you a genuine and involuntary spasm of laughter in the next couple of minutes.
This performance also has some real take-home-and-treasure moments of natural comedy. One – when two audience members left after overreacting to completely innocent and inoffensive banter – was inspired genius. Hal Cruttenden also manages something very few comics can: He possesses the exact level of campness to accentuate the humour of the material without grating after thirty minutes. In fact, you could happily listen to him prattle on for most of the night.
Nine quid does seem a lot to pay for what amounts to less than an hour of actual comedy material – especially if you already have funny friends – but if you do want laughs and have the cash, make Hal your man. If you can persuade him to join your crew down the pub later on too, you can’t help feel that he’s just going to get funnier as the evening progresses. Good stuff. Go. Sit. Relax. Enjoy.
4/5
Daniel Kirby
