Utilita Arena in Newcastle welcomes Paul Smith on his ‘Happy’ tour on Saturday 24th October, marking the local leg of his biggest globe-trotting tour to date.
It is now seven years since I, and undoubtedly thousands of others, first came across viral clips of Smith’s incredible audience work as resident compere at his Liverpool hometown’s Hot Water Comedy Club. It quickly became obvious that his boundless talents had enough everyman appeal – with an almost perfect name for it – to one day make him an arena headliner. That has come to pass remarkably quickly.
There is nothing remotely everyman about Smith’s alchemy itself, though. The imprint of some of those audience interactions is such that standalone put-downs and astonishingly rapid quips remain firmly ingrained in my memory, with some ranking among my favourite stand-up moments.
Some continue to suggest that Smith’s crowd interaction does the heavy lifting on his shows, but that seems to miss the point. This element is always a substantial part of his performances, but it is also worth the admission price alone. Any given night will be unique, and I can attest to that from personal experience, which has generated some similarly unforgettable live comedy memories.
For anyone yet to experience Paul Smith live, the ‘Happy’ tour offers a chance to see one of the country’s most distinctive comedy performers in an arena setting – and, if previous shows are anything to go by, no two nights will be quite the same.
Tickets, priced from £42.00 in advance, are available at utilitaarena.co.uk.
