Recognisable comedian, Andy Parsons, is back with his latest tour, ‘Baffingly Optimistic’.
The multi-award-winning performer has a rich catalogue of appearances – the most recognisable being his 10-year stint as a panellist on BBC’s Mock the Week. As well as performing on other TV and radio shows, he has achieved six sold-out national tours and featured on topical programmes such as Question Time and Newsnight.
Parsons is also an avid writer and has been a columnist for The Independent on several occasions. He actually started his career writing a non-commissioned show for BBC Radio 4’s Weekending and later became one of the main writers for the original Spitting Image programme.
With plenty to say, he had his own show on Radio 2 for 6 years, titled Parsons and Naylor’s Pull-Out Sections. The satirical comedy show was co-hosted by fellow writer Henry Naylor and covered a wide variety of topics with an “open-door policy” – meaning non-commissioned writers could submit unsolicited scripts with the chance of being featured. It is with this co-host that Parsons founded TBA, London’s first sketch comedy club.
In a career spanning three decades, Parsons has learnt how to constantly adapt but remain relevant to audiences by providing a sarcastic commentary to the world’s problems. He regularly performs at comedy festivals and at famous London venue The Comedy Store, where he tests out his latest material.
Renowned as being “a consistently strong exposer of bullsh*t and a plain-speaking truth-teller through his entire career” (The Guardian), it is plain to see why Parson’s transparent approach leads to sold-out shows year after year.
Now, we’ve been visited by the four horsemen in the form of disease, death, war and overpriced ketchup. Despite this hopeless-sounding situation, Parsons remains Baffingly Optimistic. There is no question that we all need reassurance in these turbulent times, and humour may be all that we have left. The purpose of the show isn’t necessarily to convince us that everything will be fine, but rather, if we’re all going to hell anyway, Parsons will at least make us enjoy the ride.
The comedian has already received 5-star reviews from The List, The Scotsman and The Herald; his latest offering is sure to be a night full of side-splitting laughter that will make the world seem that little bit less awful. After all, the only thing we can change is our attitude.
Tickets, priced at £19.00 in advance, are available at northernstage.co.uk.
