Alun Cochrane on Edinburgh and Beyond

Recorded at the Bloomsbury Theatre

More Alun Cochrane videos

Storytelling comic nominated for the 2004 Perrier best newcomer award for his debut Edinburgh show, My Favourite Words In My Best Stories, and for the Chortle awards for best compere and best breakthrough act in 2005.

In 2012, he won the Chortle Award for best club comic.

Dylan Moran etc at the Greenwich Comedy Festival
Live Review
Old Royal Naval College

It would normally be thought quite the risk to end your prestigious high-profile comedy festival with a stand-up doing work in progress. But not so much when that stand-up is Dylan Moran.

Although he confessed that most of the things he was saying on stage at the last sold-out night of the Greenwich Comedy Festival was ‘new rubbish’, Moran’s languidly pungent mutterings about his latest litany of frustration were as potent as ever.

Moran instinctively understands the power of persona in comedy. What could be just another middle-aged man grumbling about crushed hope and the patently ridiculous adornments to modern life is magically transformed into something rather special though his distinctive irritability and the charismatically shambolic way he transports himself.

From the rousing ovation he received on his entrance, it’s clear there were a lot of die-hard fans in the tent for this relatively rare London date. In truth he probably rode that goodwill for a few minutes with some to-be-expected musings on the Olympics before properly hitting his stride.

But once he did, those cascading waves of impatience, occasionally breaking into those perfectly-phrased gripe that serves as his punchlines, were as lyrically funny as ever, Even making up a word – for example of the breed of dog he couldn’t be bothered to learn – fits perfectly within his attitude of the lacksadasical genius.

This was certainly enough to earn him an encore, to the apparent surprise of compere Chris Ramsay, who wasn’t entirely sure of what was going on. This finale was a fully road-tested routine from his Yeah, Yeah tour about his daughters and other pointless distractions designed to stop him enjoying a quiet life – so was understandably well put-together – and the applause at the end of his impressive set was a notch up even on how he started.

The night had been opened by Alun Cochrane, who has a similar outlook in many ways. But his comedy celebrates his lack of ambition, rather than becoming grumpy at the things that stop him enjoying it. Signing a 25-year mortgage was preying on his mind especially, committing him to be funny enough to support his family for the next quarter-century.

He might come across as a demotivational speaker, but he explicitly states he doesn’t want to suck the fun out of life. He finds joy – or at least quiet pride – in such modest achievements as a well-made corned beef hash, and if that’s enough for him, shouldn’t it be for us?

In truth, Cochrane didn’t quite hit the big laughs tonight, although his mild-mannered shtick certainly resonated with the audience, meaning he remained steadfastly enjoyable as he observed the gentler pleasures in life. His ‘Darth Vader at the hairdresser’ ending, though, seemed out of whack with the rest of his very grounded set.

Middle act Tim Key proved more of a marquee-splitter with his disquieting lack of focus poems designed to trip up the audience – all on purpose, of course. But there’s a lot of invention packed into those brief verses, and he’s created an admirably unique persona for himself, tapping into the tropes of ‘anti-comedy’ with his apparent ill-preparedness and lazily underplayed performance, but the writing is resourcefully witty.

In a subtle satire, his character offers a mix of that awkward middle-class attempts at police bonhomie, such as trailing a poem as being about ‘the old feminism…’ but his rhythms are just slightly offbeat, creating a perfectly odd ambiance for his pithily offbeat couplets.

Binding this all together was compere Ramsay, all unaffected puppydog enthusiasm – especially when he found some fellow North Easterners in the front rows with whom to share some regional observations.

He’s an inquisitive fella, is Ramsay, and he seemed genuinely interested in engaging with the crowd. What material he had mightn’t especially stand out compared to Moran, but he was clearly happy to be there, and so, in turn, were we.

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Saw Alun in Knowsley, Liverpool. He seemed to have been upset by someone heckling. He seemed to let this get to him and it ruined the rest of his set

ken donnelly, July 2012

Having worked in comedy clubs for over five years I've probably seen 90% of the decent acts on the UK circuit live. For me, Alun is genuinely the best there is. As someone previously said, he's not ideal for stag and hen night audiences, but he doesn't really want to appeal to them and I don't blame him. For dave below, I'd urge you to go and see Alun again. I'm pretty sure I know the "serious part" of the show you're talking about. I don't want to give anything away about the show on here, but you will know that although he is talking about these serious topics in a comedy show, they will clearly have been incredibly hard things he's had to deal with in his real life. It's probably hard enough for him to talk about those things without some moron choosing that moment to heckle. I can only speculate as to why Alun didn't continue the show is because he was genuinely upset by the incident and wasn't able to be funny for people any more. This serious part is only about 5-10minutes of an show that lasted well over an hour. His latest show was outstanding and hilarious. As was his previous show. He's the best. Go see him.

Anthony, May 2011

Was doing a great show at the Arc in Stockton when a heckler in the audience upset him during a serious part of the show and he walked off, would of gone to see him again but this has put me off and probably a lot of others

dave, November 2010

I'd be so bold as to suggest that anyone who thinks AC is smug mustn't have got it. I'd put him quite some way on the humble side of pragmatic. I like his wimsy but would say that he is probably not one for the hen & stag circuit since you do need to be listening to get the most out of his tales. That said, he deliberately yet oddly subversively demonstrates in his current show that he can "do jokes" as well. I'd put him in a similar class to Bishop in terms of affability and laugh-induction ability so can only put it down to his management that his exposure currently lags. Our gain, I'd say.

Ben, August 2010

Genius. Alun is a natural, why he's not playing bigger shows is beyond me. Very very funny - go see!

z, June 2010

Cochrane's "is a Daydreamer (At Night)" show won the audience over in a matter of minutes. His comedy switched from deadpan to one liners to storytelling to the point where the same man in the front row spat out his drink on no more than two occasions. Alun took this as success. He isa lot funnier than some headline, sellout names on the current circuit. His comedy is genuine, it touches on the realistic yet has the ability to conjure visual images with his jokes. He can wander into the obscure and silly, but this is clearly for more laughs rather than just being surreal for the sake of it. To be simple: his comedy works. And it works. If you have the opportunity to see Cochrane, please do so. And there is the possibility you'll spit your drink from laughing so much. He is alongside Daniel Kitson as one of my favourite and likeable stand up comedians.

Sean Prower, February 2010

Just saw Alun at the Fringe, absolutely brilliant! Can't wait for his next show.

S, August 2009

Another smug "are'nt I pleased with myself" comic. Who really cares if someone is eating a peach! & drinking Red Bull! On a train! Hilarious! Not. At least 'garlic bread' was funny.

wilma, June 2009

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