Saturday, May 21, 2011

Stand-Up Movies at Prince Charles Cinema

I've said it once and I'll said it again. Prince Charles Cinema is one of the best things about living in London. I've seen The Room (the best worst movie of all-time) and the original Godzilla there.  And a couple of weeks ago, I went to Stand Up Movies, which is, in a nutshell, a screening of a classic comedy preceded by a trio of stand-up comic acts. The movie I went to see that night was Anchorman, which was supported by Celia Pacquolo, Nick Sun and Tom Basden.
I found Celia's act full of bubbly energy, honesty and innocence and really funny. Nick was bizarrely hilarious and potentially incredibly disorganised or improvisational. I couldn't quite tell. I'm not entirely sure everyone in the cinema liked him, but I just found it so funny and surreal.

And, of course, I loved Tom. What's not to like? He’s musical, he’s funny and he’s cute to boot. Oh, and he’s tall too. He basically ticks all the boxes. But, you know, he’s a comedian, so I’ll bet they’re all secretly miserable when they’re in relationships because they’re too stressed out trying to come up with jokes because everyone expects them to be funny all the time.

Not that I’ve thought about that at all. No siree.

And, no, it wasn't my excuse for not going up to him at a gig last year to tell him how great I thought he was.

Anyway, Mr. Basden did not disappoint. He was on for far too short a time, but, still, he was incredibly entertaining, particularly when he sang his not-quite-finished song about - what else? - films.

And then, all too soon, it was time for Anchorman. I thought it was great, especially Steve Carrell's performance as Brick ("I love lamp"), and... well, my favourite part of the show was Ben Stiller's cameo. I mean... "Como estan, bit-chas?" Fantastic.

And if all of that wasn't enough to convince you, then... well, drinks were two-for-the-price-of-one at the bar all night!

Though you might want to note that, if you're planning on going to one of these, the usual rules of going to a comedy club apply. Don't sit in the front row and don't come in late... well, feel free to do so if you don't mind attention! I'm pretty sure the guy who found Nick rubbing up against him probably regretted not following those rules.

The next in the Stand Up Movie series is Dr. Strangelove on May 28th. Airplane, which is a fantastic movie, will be screened on June 23rd.

No comments: