On falling over at 43

From Drambuie Late Night Pursuits on November 27, 2008.

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Until recently, a sardonic team captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Sean Hughes started his career as a stand-up comedian by becoming the youngest winner of The Perrier Award. Several sell out tours later and two series of Sean’s Show for Channel 4, Sean diversified into writing, presenting and acting. Recently co starring with Peter Davison in The Last Detective (ITV).

Sean Hughes: What I Meant To Say Was...
Live Review
Maidenhead Norden Farm Centre For The Arts

With his sizeable belly and scruffy stubble, it’s hard to imagine this haggard figure was once the heartthrob of the comedy world, the youngest winner of the Perrier award. But the ravages of age suit Sean Hughes’s cantankerousness; with 43 weary years on the planet, he’s certainly got the bitterness to underwrite his cynicism.

But middle-age spread has affected his material as much as his waistline; and there’s a noticeable flabbiness to his delivery, especially in a decidedly scrappy first half. Once he hits his stride, however, pearls shine through – even if he’s never going to be disciplined or focussed enough to strike every line square on. He accuses the people of Maidenhead of sluggishness, though he surely has to shoulder his share of the blame.

He could do with a warm-up act, because he’s not that great at doing it himself. He comes on stage in a braided tunic – his tribute, he says, to Michael Jackson – to idly thumb through a table of props, settling on the local newspaper to inspire him, as so many acts have done before him to localise their material.

Hughes gets some laughs out of the parochial reporting, but just as many items fall flat. Frustratingly he returns time and time again to the paper’s lead story, about late-night rowdiness at a petrol station, with what seems like increasing desperation and diminishing returns. But although the awkward callbacks rarely work, now and again they hit the spot; which is pretty much the pattern for the first half. For every considered routine, from crappy TV to quitting his 60-a-day smoking habit, landing the laughs, there’s some unfulfilling ad-libbing or distracted musing.

He mocks Michael McIntyre for his bland observational style, but comedy’s man-of-the-moment wouldn’t let gags slip through his fingers like Hughes does, even though the Irishman has a lot more to say. McIntyre isn’t the only comic Hughes takes a pop at, more controversially berating official national treasure Stephen Fry for doing so many adverts. ‘He knows everything,’ Hughes opines, ‘except the meaning of integrity.’

This spark of iconoclasm comes to the fore in the second half, a more considered, sharper stand-up routine than the first. This more impressive takes in the personal – from the inevitable complaints about aging to the recollections about settling in Dublin after spending the first five years of his life in London – to his irascibly opinionated takes on the big issues.

Still not everything works, for which the crowd are again blamed. ‘That gets a round of applause in other places,’ he sighs, prompting a willing, but unrewarding, ovation. And even he admits this is a show that those in his age bracket will enjoy more than others. ‘Think of it as an education,’ he tells the teenager in the front row, who would no doubt be baffled by his routine about Phil Oakley and the Human League.

For his demographic, though, there are more than enough unique observations and smart gags to justify the ticket price, even though it remains frustrating that he never really grabs the gig full-on to show his distinctive material to its best advantage.

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Just seen him tonight and the review hasn't changed in over a year.Still shit.There were 5 yes FIVE people in the first two rows - 4 of them Irish and he spend most of the evening getting (strained) laughs from poking fun at them. It was only late in the show that he let slip he was born in London which explained why he kept going back to these people to get laughs.He is now such an embarrassment to see live and all he could do was moan about how empty the crowd was. Maybe the empty seats tells him its time to change the show

declan, February 2010

I think these comments are all very mean eager to run down Sean because he is far from his youngest comic win 20 years ago.I saw him last night at the Colchester Arts Centre and thought he was really thoughtful and funny. Much better than the massed produced, over hyped drivel seen today like "Live from the Apollo". He is a very diverse and talented human being that like many of us has reached 40 and has realised life isn't all it is cracked up to be. My own concern was that he seems a bit forlorn and unloved!

Emma Depper, January 2010

I saw Sean play the George Square Theatre in Edinburgh back in 1996 and have always held it up since as the finest hour of stand-up I've ever seen. So reading mixed reviews on here, I was a little apprehensive about seeing him at the Royal in Northampton last night (22 Jan 2010) in case it jaded a treasured memory. Well, the opposite happened and I was reminded of what a brilliant stand-up Sean Hughes is. His skill at incorporating the live environment into his prepared material is second to none and comments made by various members of the audience were used to great effect. Thoughtful, well-paced comedy from a true master of the form. Looking forward to seeing him again soon.

David Sharpe, January 2010

Sean Hughes 1965 - 1995: Talented, quick witted and respected by his peers. Will be sorely missed.It now appears that we are left with an embittered zombie of a comic, ranting and puffing to a room of disinterested people that have come to see the comic that shined so well in the 80/90. Granted this is a comeback from a long time out and he could well be finding his feet again. I watched in hope that things would pick up, only finding myself offering the same nervous and polite titter here and there. I hope that with better writing and more time on the stage his spark will return. I still hold out hope but will not be rushing to see him again any time soon.

Max, January 2010

Jokes hang in the air and are never followed through with a punch line that might work and he instead relies on their shock value that to a jaded audience simply isn’t there. After short bursts of (at best) polite laughter, he berates the provincial mentality of the (half-full) audience for not getting them. [Rule of comedy no 1 – don’t tell the audience off for not laughing at your jokes!] Then there were all the jokes on the Catholics Bill Hicks used to perform much better, and the attacks on more successful comedians for being…well more successful. A bitter, dark comic would have been great to see. This was bitter and dark, without the comic. I’ve read the controversy regarding the jokes about Down syndrome, Madeleine McCann and the holocaust and having waited to see him live before reacting to them, get no sense from his performance that any of this type of news has any greater affect on him other than to the opportunity to raise a cheap laugh. If you find his material amusing than good for you, but please don’t think that those who don’t must be some kind of inferior Daily Mail reading tosser. Instead it might just mean they still have some humanity left. After seeing finer 90s comics (like Izzard and Coogan), Hughes has sunk from his great debut to just another comic no better than the typical Jongleurs dross swearing away and taking the piss out of the audience to try and impress the Stag Party crowd and his latest tour presents another good reason not to bother to go out and see any live comedy. rn( To his credit he was funny back in 1994 when I saw him at a book reading in a branch of Waterstones, but on that occasion he was trying to sell us his book.)rn(Loughborough 7th November)

Ian Allwyn, November 2009

I saw Sean @ The Corn Exchange in Bedford on 2nd October 2009. It was a real shame to see a comedian in decline. Very few laughs throughout the show. Repetative and irrelevant. Personally I think Sean needs to sit down and rethink his material, maybe even team up with another writer. Surely, if the audience doesn't laugh at a joke it's because the joke isn't funny, rather than the audience being "odd" as Sean seemed to think.

Scotty, October 2009

Of the 20 shows i saw in Edinburgh this year, this one was by far the worst. Very lame jokes indeed. This man used to be so good too. Completely lacking in edge,despite him thinking he's some kind of Bill Hicks. I laughed three times in 70 minutes. Maybe those who don't see much comedy will lap this stuff up,but there was little here I hadn't heard done better by others.

pcf, August 2009

Great night at the Edinburgh Fringe. Had good rapport with the front row and really pulled the room together on a few occasions of high humour. Highly recommend it for all at the fringe. The place was packed, so get your tickets early !

Peter, August 2009

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