Ripping Yarms Comedy Club is in full swing at The Princess Alexandria Auditorium in Yarm on Friday 10th February as Milton Jones headlines an unpredictable comedy bill at the underrated venue with MC Nina Gilligan at the helm.
Milton Jones tops the line-up as a highly experienced traverser of the UK comedy playing field, scooping the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s Perrier Award for best newcomer as far back as 1996 and significantly growing his profile since then. Well received as a regular panellist on BBC2’s Mock The Week, Jones has also fleshed out his credentials and seasoned his material across his own BBC Radio 4 shows, and is additionally the author of a biographical novel.
Jones’ comedy is instantly recognisable for its off-the-wall tendencies and eccentric qualities, liberally employing pun work and deadpan one-liners drenched in surrealism, evoking an unconventional, off-kilter atmosphere in order to commentate and observe on culture, celebrity and current affairs.
Also gracing the diverse bill is Jimmy Cricket, whose veteran status as a performing comic dwarfs that of Jones. The Irish comedian graduated from holiday camps in the 1970s to his own broad selection of radio and television vehicles by the 1980s, highlighted by lost show ‘And There’s More’, also Cricket’s signature saying. Between his distinctive on-stage outfits, clean-cut comedy and various catchphrases, the touring stalwart has acquired a legendary aura in British performance circuits and truly packs this night’s roll call with intrigue.
Also aboard and solidifying the evening with a highly contemporary presence is Jamie Hutchinson. The Manchester stand-up is renowned as part of the stable at Liverpool’s excellent Hot Water Comedy Club, which also plays affiliate to his own podcast Green Room, co-hosted with Tony Carroll. Hutchinson has also appeared on one of Britain’s most wildly popular podcasts in the form of Have A Word, further helping his star to rise. The unnerving combination of his comfort level under the lights and his razor-wire act always guarantees riotous proceedings and astonishing anecdotes, though Hutchinson is adept at both long and short-form gags.
As MC, Nina Gilligan is a circuit regular with all of the requisite skills to direct the night’s events; very witty, supremely likeable and a natural at observation and storytelling.
While all of these elements seem disparate at a glance, a veritable pick n’ mix which is scarcely believable in juxtaposition, they are sure to all converge to form a comedic Voltron.
Tickets, priced at £21.00 in advance, are available from thepaaonline.org.
