Electric Forecast/ Aaron Counter/ Duncan Oakley
22 January 2006
Welcome to the first Moles comedy night review of 2006! Sunday nights at the Porter are already in full swing with tonight being another quality installment. Double act Electric Forecast compered the evening but were running slightly late (“we parked up and someone tried to dog us”) so Aussie comic Aaron Counter kicked off the night. In a charmingly relaxed state, Counter idled onto stage and mixed banter and rehearsed material with ease. He harkened back to the days of dial-up “romantic” porn (“you got to see the eyes first”), worked in some new stuff about the recent scandal involving Lib Dem MP Mark Oaten, and discussed the weapons girlfriends use to attack men (“You’re not having sex tonight” – “Purleease, I spent my teenage years training for nights like this!”).
Electric Forecast bounded onstage and injected considerable energy into the night. They introduced East Londoner Dan Cogan, who raised the spectre of “Exorcist Happy Meals”, The Cornish Pasty Awards Ceremony, and his attempts to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger on skag. Cogan looks tough – a skinhead with a nasty glare, rather like a young Jack Dee. At the moment though, he hasn’t quite nailed the writing side of things and got the audience offside from the outset with a couple of jokes that were too tasteless to appear so early in a set (re. “Kong My Whopper” at Burger King – “I thought I was going to get gnoshed off by a minimum wager!”). Still, even when things were not going so well Cogan had the confidence to keep his cool, stare out the crowd, and wind up with a comical “I like to end on a really dreadful response. Thank you!”
A lot of drivel is talked about headline act, guitar-wielding Duncan Oakley. He certainly has his detractors, but this seems to be based largely on a general antipathy to the musical comedy genre. Categorically, I can say he is not “laddish” or “lazy” – this is actually one of the best musical comics on the circuit. Oakley began his career by singing much more extended comedy songs but has now whittled down literally hours worth of material to just a large handful of high caliber parodies, bolstered by his own very funny original songs (admittedly, often concerning rather puerile topics like oral sex and tits), and some fast-paced, quick witted, pun-tastic stand-up banter. Oakley left the stage to cries of “encore” – a request he duly took up, finishing the night with a rant about Eric Clapton and a song about having two bum-holes.
Caption competition: What’s the Difference Between George Galloway and a Cactus?
(Some very weird, highly imbecilic entries tonight. Be prepared…!)
“Only one is actually from Texas”
“Jodi Marsh would probably sit on a cactus the filthy fucking slag”
“One will give you a prick, the other is a prick who wouldn’t get my vote!”
“George Galloway isn’t my dad”
“A cactus is a hardy plant that lives in tough environments. George Galloway, on the other hand, is a twat”
“I don’t give a shit. He’s a fucking cock (I’d watch a programme with a cactus on though)”
All rather unfair vitriol but hey, it’s Sunday night, and there are prizes to be won.
Heckles/Banter
Counter: (to Weird Haircut Man) Do you have a girlfriend?
(Weird Haircut Man waves his right hand.)
Counter: (to man) What’s the worst way you’ve ever been dumped?
Man: got sent a Polaroid of her fucking my best friend.
Counter: (dumbstruck) oh… I was going to say I got dumped by email but that doesn’t even come close! Still, on the upside… er…
Man: I sent them to her dad!
Counter: (to couple) Do you guys fight?
Woman: He’s too laid back.
Counter: You try to fight him but he just keeps saying “yes”!?
Matthew Alford