Erich McElroy: Restaurants

The difference between American restaurants and British restaurants.

More Erich McElroy videos

Originally from Seattle, Erich McElroy started performing stand-up in Britain in about 2002, and has been resident MC of the Comedy Tree club for most that time. He has a degree in acting and in the US was a regular performer with the sketch group Up In Your Grill.

Erich McElroy: Fringe 2012
Live Review
Pleasance Courtyard

Erich McElroy is a divorced man in his thirties from Seattle who, to be frank, still dresses and talks like a typical American college boy (stonewash jeans, T-shirt with a short sleeve shirt over it. We’ve all seen them).

He kicks off this teatime show with a brief explanation of how after residing in the UK for the last 12 years, he finally applied for and was granted a British passport. To help the audience understand the rings he had to jump through and the bureaucratic hurdles he had to overcome, he spends a good 10 to 15 minutes checking where everyone in the room was from and identified two audience members who had been through the same rigmarole as himself.

It’s very common for comedians covering any topic to start off with ‘what’s your name and where are you from?’ but for this show the process is useful not only for getting to know the crowd, but also for setting the foundations.

Once he starts the actual meat of the show, he makes both a brilliant observation and a mea culpa; the positive reaction of the British to the Olympics had scuppered a whole swathe of his material. Very honest and also described in such a way that the audience doesn’t feel uncomfortable.

He describes his first overseas trip as an 18-year-old high school senior to Germany and Austria with, again, plenty of honesty, some of it quite graphic for the time of day. Then, further along the autobiographical narrative, his first experience of the UK; namely Waterloo station. Again, this is described with a wide-eyed naivety similar to what you could imagine him feeling at the time.

We then move smoothly onto his experiences since he decided to live on this side of the pond permanently. Does he consider his kids British? Are his children more British than him by virtue of the fact they were born in Britain? The theme of identity is rich with potential and we are lucky enough to be watching a performer with more than enough skill to explore, satirise and occasionally simply take the piss out of it.

Of course, with a topic such as this, the issue of Scottish independence is an inevitable strand later in the show. More could have been made of this, but McElroy decided to stick with the Brits as a whole.

He finishes up with a decent stab at comparing the attitudes of the British and Americans towards violence, using the c-bomb liberally, irony and the British ‘round system’ in pubs. Arguably, these are slightly hackneyed topics but he dealt with them well and it rounded things off more than satisfactorily.

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I had seen Erich a couple of times and liked him so much I invited Erich to compere my very first comedy night in Estonia back in 2010. The gig went really well! This year I invited Erich back to do a 30-minute set, and both yours truly and the audience liked it even more. Really good balance of interacting with the audience and having a story to tell.

Andrus Purde, October 2012

Erich was fab when my husband and I saw him last Friday at the Cheltenham Chase Hotel. All his material is current so there is not chance of not finding him funny. We both feel that very soon this guy is gonna make it big and are glad that we were able to actually see the comedian up close so to speak and not from a great distance ( like in the O2). Keep doing what you do best Erich, you are sooo good at it. Looking forward to you making hubby and I laugh again.

Rachel S, October 2010

Erich McElroy started his set telling the audience he'd just become a British citizen - flummoxed we all sat there with the 'Why?!' (note the exclamation mark) expression on our faces. The rest of his set explained why; with hilarious 'typically British' stories, characteristics and fond memories of his experiences. I left the club pleased that bad customer service is something to be proud of! Because we have better things going for us - a sense of humor...apparently...

Patricia, November 2009

Awesome - we saw three comedians on the night and Eric was far and away THE best one and got the most laughs.

carol baldock, November 2009

I saw Erich for the first time at the Comedy Carnival @ Sound, Leicester Square on Saturday night and thought he was great. He engaged with the audience immediately and had me laughing out loud as he dealt easily, hilariously and off the cuff with a couple of hecklers. Erich was MC'ing on Saturday and therefore made a few appearances to the stage - though thoroughly enjoying the acts he introduced, I could quite happily of just listened and laughed to Erich all evening. Will definitely look out to see him again and recommend others go to see him too.

Lindsey McNicholas, August 2009

Saw Erich last night in Derby. He was excellent, pity the gig wasn't better, he is worth more.

fred bedman, June 2009

I went to see Erich last month and was really impressed with the way he immediately got the crowd on his side.His audience interaction is first class,I think this warm,engaging comedian has a good future ahead of him.

stef fuller, May 2009

I saw Erich in August 2008 and found him uttery hilarious. He interacts with the crowd very well and is one of the funniest comedians i have ever seen. Would definitely see again, highly recommended

Callum, September 2008

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