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MOST POPULAR LINKS... FRONT PAGE... MONTHLY DRINKS NIGHT
Nicholas Parsons in HAPPY HOUR
Verdict: Relaxed stand-up and chat-show from a master of comedy
Edinburgh - Pleasance Over The Road - August 02
Guests - Sean Lock, The Plastic Cowboys, Howard Read
Nicholas Parsons may seem an unlikely host for a nightly show introducing some of the edgiest acts at the Edinburgh Fringe. But the man who defines the word urbane has a lot more to him than Sale of The Century and Just A Minute. He's performed with the top comedy acts over the past few - quite a few - years, and has a formidable history as a stand-up in his own right. And he famously starred in The Rocky Horror Show.
There's a voice-over announcing 'the irrepressable, unredeemable Nicholas Parsons', and on the man bounds, in light jacket and cravat (and trousers, lest you'd expected his Rocky Horror fishnets) - a tube of Smarties at the ready.
They're for smartarses, he explains, and encourages us to switch on mobile phones. The only proviso is, he takes the call. He's straight at the audience, identifying a man in the front row who makes testicle equipment and awarding him a tube of Smarties. Parsons started his career with 5 years as an engineer in a Clydebank shipyard, and switches to fluent Glaswegian to take joke requests from a family of 3 generations from Edinburgh's rival city.
Yes, there are plenty of people here tonight in the capacity audience who know enough of NP's repertoire to ask for favourite jokes to be retold. He's a hugely experienced comedy writer for other people too, and makes up joke after joke on the spot - a consumate professional, and nice with it.
He spends a full half-hour with the audience, which flashes by in seconds, then brings on his first guest, Sean Lock. Lock's appearing at The Assembly Rooms ( Supper Room - 11-26 August 02), and recalls a party they've both attended where the wine was free, with hangover consequences.
Lock comments on how traditional comedians told filthy jokes then burst into song. 'You felt soiled and dirty, and were then cleansed with music'. He's straight into a perfect Bernard Manning, climaxing in the song 'Feelings'. Parsons counters with his version of Billy Connolly, and already he and Lock are a double act.
Parsons recorded an episode of Just A Minute in Edinburgh the previous day in which Lock was a contestant. Parsons: 'They can be ruthless'. Lock: 'As ruthless as you can get in a panel game. (Not very) compared with say Slobodan Milosovec'. He's onto getting things in proportion and points out that people have described Steven Berkoff as 'very brave' to do his Requiem to Ground Zero. Pondering on the worst that could happen to Berkoff, Lock concludes: 'People might say they don't really like Requiem'.
Parsons and Lock are off and running for a full 15 minutes, bouncing jokes off each other and questions from the audience. Then via a gag about a Church of England vicar on the train to Cork, Parsons introduces Adam, James and Robin - The Plastic Cowboys. They're on at The Pleasance with Growing Nowhere, featuring some aspects of schooldays you'd rather forget. They do an extract featuring a birthday party in which an unpopular boy plays with an invisible friend who always gets him intro trouble. It's the kind of trouble that involves him pulling down his trousers and smearing himself in cream - which is why the other boys ... avoid him.
Star of the show at this point is staff member Richard, who comes on armed with a broom to clear up the debris. Then it's Parsons's third guest, Howard Read. His show Words and Pictures is at The Pleasance. He plays Big Howard, and animates Little Howard, a cartoon character on a screen. That's the theory, but Little Howard, who Read controls from a hand-held cordless keyboard, has very much a life of his own.
Nicholas Parsons ('Mr Parsnips' according to Little Howard) gives him a drink, which Little Howard takes from him and drains. He gets a tube of Smarties, but the excess of sugar has a dangerous effect, and Little Howard's off, racing round his screen out of control, eyes flaring. Parsons unwisely points out that he has no cartoon ears - which prompts a major fit of distress. Little Howard takes questions from the audience, then returns to his interview with Parsons, which covers Lego (he can eat a whole one, though he's not really supposed to) and the school nativity play (the Virgin Mary gave him a Chinese burn).
Nicholas Parsons ends the show on more jokes with the audience. Then he's off to deafening applause and his hit single Fantasy. Hit single? Sex symbol? Fishnets? There's no limit to the man's surprises. The finale show's at the weekend with guests Ross Noble and Scott Capurro.
Written and performed by Nicholas Parsons and guests.
END
Reviewed by John Park / Wednesday 21 August 02 / Pleasance Over The Road - Main Theatre.
(c) Fringe Report 2002
Related sites -
Howard Read
Ross Noble
Scott Capurro
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2010
