By Juliette Paoli, Third Year Modern Languages
Since I am single, abroad and facing Valentine’s day with dread, I figured that the best answer to my international situationships was to buy a ticket to the comedy show It’s All Love this Wednesday February 11th — cheaper than therapy and way more entertaining.
I was apparently not the only one to think that love has a serious humoristic potential because the room was full. Like the host at the beginning of the show, I was casting furtive glances around the room to try and determine if the audience was mostly couples or friends, single or in a relationship and, judging by the applause meter at the beginning of the show, it was a good half-half.
The audience is indeed the most important thing about this show because it is exclusively interactive. We were asked to fill a form about icks, red flags, first dates, break-ups and anecdotes. Then the comedians will read them on stage and attempt to give dating advice, but mostly use them to turn them into jokes.
I tried to fill it myself but I gave up realising how boring my dating life actually is. Most people in the audience must have felt that their life sucked as well and they were just here to contemplate others’ because they didn’t receive that many answers. But I have to say that the answers they received were sufficient enough to make the whole show, they were full of plot-twists and created hilarious discussions with the comedians on stage. Maybe in the end I am glad I didn’t put anything in the form and just enjoyed listening to stop taking my own dating life so seriously.
This concept was really unsettling for me at first, as nothing is pre-written, it is all made on the spot through the interactions between the public and the stage. To be fair, it looked a bit like an improvisation exercise for the comedians, and some were more proficient than others. Out of the four guests, they kept the best (Matt Richardson) for the end, who was really punchy, at ease and reactive. I also really enjoyed Sophie Garrad, acting like a girl’s girl, asking the right questions and keeping the show alive.
Our host knew what he was doing when he started the show by getting to know the front row. It could have been me as I arrived with my boy flatmate and they told us to go to the front, thinking we were a couple I guess. Thankfully I didn’t because this beginning was so strong and fun it was perfect to set the mood for the whole night. When he asked them if they were married the lady said ‘He is’, starting exhilarated laughter in the audience. The man actually turned out to be in the middle of the divorce, which illustrates how diverse the audience was, from fearless singles, to newly-wed, fiancés and platonic love.
The rest of the anecdotes were also crazy, going from a criminal convict unable to leave the country, one violent toward his dog or one making a scene because of an under-poured drink. Alfie Dundas was very good at building on all of these stories, and it really felt like being inside of the Instagram comedy reels, when you wonder if it is real or scripted, because it is so unlikely and fun.
Lewis Burley
Anna Leaf
Altogether I had a very good time and a very good laugh. I would say that the plan to put into perspective my own dating life listening to mad anecdotes and jokes definitely worked, and for that I would like to pay tribute to everyone in the audience who shared something.
Alfie Dundas has shows in Bristol's Smoke and Mirrors on 13th and 14th April and tickets are still available.
Featured image: The Gaffe Comedy Club
Would you go to a comedy show in Bristol?
