Maxwell's Fullmooners

Week 3 of 7 (Thursdays from 11.59pm to 2.30am): woah this was one weird show - made weirder this evening by a rather large group of very drunk hecklers in the audience.  Maxwell just about kept it together, with a little help from security, and the hecklers shut up for the pretty good champagne spot, Indian comedian Papa CJ.  Jason Byrne seemed to have no material, but that might have been because he got derailed by the hecklers, and I took the opportunity to go to the bar during David Hadingham's set.  Granted that doesn't make it sound like a promising evening but I'll be back next week braving the night bus once again.

Week 5 of 7: another strange show (granted a degree of strange is de rigueur for Fullmooners) but for a totally different reason.  Heckling was well and truly in keeping with the material this week, so much so that I suspected that one particular heckler was a plant, a suspicion only heightened when said heckler asked me which act I preferred at the end of the evening but hey comedy is all about making the rehearsed look natural so if he was a plant I can live with it.  The really big change that endowed the evening with its surreal air was that Maxwell was well and truly sober.  He started off looking and sounding a bit ropey (major hangover apparently) but I'm inclined to say that (and I'm sure this will be a disappointment for him) he is even better sober than not.  He regailed us with tales of making a travel programme about Ireland for The Guardian, during the course of which he baffled the locals by licking a whale's tooth in a pub.  The biggest laugh came from the gesture he made to symbolise licking the tooth but unfortunately that does not translate to the written medium.

All three guests were on form.  Alan Carr was the headline act and boy was he funny.  Like the pro he is he had the mike so loud that it drowned out any extraneous crowd noise right from the start and, although you could see the joins in his routine, the chain of thought felt natual rather than forced.  He made repeated references to emporiums that one can only describe as primarily associated with the working class ("have you seen A&E on a Friday night - I thought they'd bombed Lidls") and while they were very funny it's a slightly strange concept.  It's funny because we, the audience, don't see ourselves as being like people who shop in those places.  Okay so it's only stand up and  maybe I'm over analysing and to be fair it's a realistic bet that anyone who is in Leicester Square at 1am is unlikely to be getting up to work in a factory (it's mainly middle class students and people who can get away with not seeing the boss on Friday morning) but it did cross my mind.  Carr was more amusing and infinitely more engaging that he appears on the telly and worth the ticket price alone.  He said he'd make a return trip to Fullmooners and I hope he does.

The second act was Jewish comic Andy Zaltzman; I know he is Jewish because he felt the need to tell us.  Actually it was a good idea because he had a searingly funny gag about Jesus which he might not have got away with if he hadn't said he was Jewish.  Due to the lateness of the hour and my consumption of alcohol having gone over the government's recommended limit I can't remember what the gag was but I suppose that'll mean it's still funny the next time I hear it.

'Heavy Metal' comic Steve Hughes was the final act.  He started his slot after having provided accompaniment on drums for one of Maxwell's routines.  The sight of a sober Andrew Maxwell bumping and grinding to the sound of drums is not something that will disapper from my mind easily.  And yes it was as abstract as it sounds.  Hughes' own routine centered around reading out and satirising one of those ads you get in newspapers advising us how to spot a terrorist (apparently they use mobile phones, carry bags and need to travel).  He started nervously but the Fullmooners crowd are an encouraging lot and he quickly picked up on the wave of laughter and relaxed into his act.

In addition to the guests and Maxwell himself we had the usual interlude of the 1 Motion Crew breakdancers (they're good but it must be time to change the routine) and Sir Tim (Tim Fitzhigham) replacing an unwell Lady Carol (a warbling songstress who sings popular tunes while playing a mandolin) with the closing song.  I wish her a speedy recovery of course but I'm not a Lady Carol fan so I was more than happy with this temporary change.  And Tim was genuinely entertaining.

Overall this was easily the best Fullmooners so far, though I have a sneaking suspicion that the sight of me trying to negotiate my way down The Strand at 3am might have been the most comedic event of the evening.  Maxwell better watch out as with shows like this Fullmooners is in danger of being frequented by the fashionable crowd.  Luckily with only two more weeks of this run there isn't time for it to become the next big thing.