Review

REVIEW: Frank Skinner Live – 5*

REVIEW: Frank Skinner Live – 5*

Radio Ha-Ha! talks Ha-Ha!

Written by Ciara Kelleher

Review date: 13th August 2019

Frank Skinner is a writer, comedian, TV presenter and actor who is notoriously famous for his dry wit. I went to see Frank’s show with the expectation that he would be as dry humoured as he has been on shows like ‘Taskmaster’ and ‘Room 101’. I was seriously misguided. ‘Frank Skinner Live’ was one of the most engaging shows I saw at Edinburgh Fringe 2019. He completely exceeded all my expectations. 

Frank Skinner has a very relaxed demeanour when performing, he is someone that instantly puts the audience at ease. In his hour, Frank discussed Bruce Forsyth, the Strictly Come Dancing curse, his Libido, his wife and his seven-year-old son. The sixty-two-year-old constantly poked fun at his age and likened himself to an older audience member, asking him about his libido and telling us different funny incidents that have befallen him. For example, one of Frank’s more hilarious bits was when he heard whistling outside his hotel room and thought someone was out there watching him and after going to check if there was someone there multiple times, he realised that the sound was coming out of his own nose.  He is a storyteller and comes across as warm and quite relatable. There was a couple of moments where I thought “Ah, I’ve done that” and he seemed to evoke the same reaction from multiple audience members. 

Frank makes a series of quick witted, intelligent and harmless jokes. This was one of the least vulgar shows I saw at Fringe, and honestly it was a relief to hear something a bit different! He jibed the audience in an affectionate manner, asking them their names and came up with astute and improvised punchlines. 

There are no fireworks or no gimmicks in this show. If any, the theme was centred around age and anecdotes. Due to the delivery, I was a fan of this. I have seen many comedians give anecdotes which would be funny if you knew them personally but otherwise are not. At least Frank has the incite and experience to perform relatable material; where you’ve either done something like that yourself or know someone who has. Overall, I left Frank Skinner’s show elated.  What a pleasant surprise; to enter a sceptic and leave a fan. 

Frank Skinner’s will be touring his new show ‘Showbiz’ from September 12th in Ireland and the UK. Tickets available here: http://frankskinnerlive.com/#live-london

Radio Ha-Ha

August 20th, 2019

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