Gavin Webster
Whitley Bay Playhouse
Friday 15th December 2017
Plus I’ve Got A Job For You Gav tv pilot
It was a
night off for the Whitley Bay Pantomime and Gavin Webster was on hand to
provide the perfect remedy to all of the hype that comes with Christmas.
Support came
from the very capable Katherine Tanney. Starting
with a joke about her FitBit, she would look at self-image, dating and bring
single. It worked as it was easy to relate to her position. I mean, how
annoying are Christenings? Or other people’s children? It was a shame that her
set was so short. It was the first time that we’d seen Katherine in action and
we will be on the lookout for future dates.
Now Gavin
Webster is a chap that we’ve seen on a number of occasions. Thanks to his
previous shows we will crack up when someone mentions pandas or balsamic vinegar.
The Geordie working class anti-hero is able to make acerbic observations of
life in the 21st century. Who is better to pull apart the farcical
elements of the annual celebration?
Naturally,
as the set for the panto was very much in evidence behind Gavin, pantomimes
were going to take a direct hit. As much as we love them, his comments were
fair play as he dissected both the shows and the typical members of the audience.
As no fan of
the Christmas works night out, I found myself in agreement when he described
the best and the worst of it. At least it comes across that Gavin has actually
experienced life rather than just sitting at home watching the Christmas
Special of The Office. Of course,
ending up in the pub means contact with the pub bore and the crazy statements
that they come out with. For example, would you really want to see footballers
swapping roles with hospital staff? Gavin had clearly met a view propping up
the bar in his time.
After trashing
Christmas, he headed to traditional Gavin territory with his take on university
advertisements and the students they’ll attract. I do wonder if he was in my physical
chemistry lectures back in the 90s. I never understood wave functions, and
still don’t, but I can state the links between entropy and enthalpy, so it wasn’t
a total waste of time. I too remember the students that he described and how they
ended up “disappearing. It is the
recognisability of Gavin’s observations that makes his material work.” after
the first Christmas break.
He concluded
his set with a few musical numbers including an amusing take on Northumberland
based on one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s hits.
Gavin
provided the perfect to the excesses of the Christmas festival in a funny hour
long set.
I’ve
Got A Job For You Gav is the new Gavin Webster sitcom which is currently available
on YouTube.
It is described as ‘a pilot sitcom
starring cult NE of England comedian Gavin Webster, comedians Matty Reed, Sammy
Dobson, Dave Greener and Viz co founder Simon Donald. With actors and comedians
Judi Earl, Alfie Joey, Cal Halbert, Suzanne Richardson and Brogan Gilbert.’
The first
episode is worth a watch. The tone is similar to that of Jack Dee’s Lead Balloon but without the middle class
pretentiousness and lattes. With a clear nod to the movie Trainspotting, it has
a local cast in a not-too-hard-to-believe scenario. Gav is a mini-cab driver
who has to attend the funeral of his aunty, but finds himself meeting up with
members of his family that he hasn’t seen in a while.
It is great
to hear proper (and not forced) north-east accents in a comedy. Whilst the
national broadcasters claim to create work outside of London, their idea of
North appears to actually mean Manchester. Even the recent Hebburn series seemed to have large chunks filmed in the North
West. There is scope for a sitcom to be
produced in this area and Gavin’s pilot is worth a watch.
The second
episode has been filmed and will be screened live at the Stand Comedy Club in
Newcastle on Sunday 31st December 2017 at 3pm. Details of the event,
and tickets, can be found here: http://www.thestand.co.uk/show/29838/I_ve.
Review by Stephen Oliver
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