Lee Hurst Live part 1

More Lee Hurst videos

Lee Hurst grew up with his family in one room of his grandmother's maisonette in Poplar, East London. His first job, aged 16, was as a trainee telephone engineer, .

After developing his stand-up act, he became a warm-up man for Have I Got News For You? The producers then needed a warm-up man for the pilot of their new comedy sports quiz, They Think It’s All Over – and ended up signing him as a regular panellist. He appeared in six series, from the first episode in September 1995 until 1998.

In 1996, he hosted an ill-fated revival of Saturday Live, and has made appearances on the likes of That’s Showbusiness, The Stand Up Show and Have I Got News For You? He also created the Channel 5 series Bring Me The Head Of Light Entertainment, which ran for three years from 1997.

However, in the late Nineties, he set up his own club, The Backyard Comedy Club, in Bethnal Green in London’s East End. He considered standing in London's 2004 Mayoral elections in protest over a proposed redevelopment which would have seen his club demolished.

However, he suddenly closed the venue without explanation in November 2007. The club then reopened under the name The FymFygBar, with Hurst compering most Saturday evenings.

He is no stranger to the headlines: In 2005, he was briefly detained under the Mental Health act after threatening to kill himself in an emotional call to a national newspaper, which he later said was a ‘cry for help’ over the way his dying father was being treated in hospital. And in 2008, he smashed an audience member's mobile phone in fury, mistakenly believing his jokes were being filmed for the internet.

Also in 2008, he returned to TV quiz shows, as a regular panelist on Five’s The What In The World?

He suffers from a form of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis, a hereditary condition which causes acute back and joint pain.

Lee Hurst Man Vs Woman
Live Review
Basildon Towngate Theatre

If Lee Hurst’s first tour in a decade isn’t up to scratch, he has the perfect excuse: he left his homework on the bus.

Man vs Woman was to have been based around a ‘battle of the sexes’ game show, as the publicity blurb proclaims. But what that would have been, the audience can only speculate, as Hurst admits that a few weeks ago he left his notebook containing all the questions on public transport en route to a gig.

Plan B involves leaving pen and paper on the stage during the interval and inviting questions on gender differences. It is not exactly a formula for innovation, as proved by one of the very first questions: Why do men insist on leaving the toilet seat up?

The section continues to touch on almost every cliché of the genre, from male DIY incompetence to the age-old female declaration of hostilities: ‘Well, if you don’t know what’s wrong I’m not telling you.’ Though the questioner who asked: ‘Why don’t women like Status Quo?’ deserves a mark for lateral thinking.

Prompted by such audience suggestions Hurst does hit a lot of familiar points, but he has a conversational ease, no doubt honed over the years hosting his own East London club, that brings out the best in them.

He has an anecdote for every occasion and an affable, blokey way of telling them – so that even when he gets sexually graphic, which is relatively frequent, he can charm his way through. There are a few too many easy masturbation jokes, too, but they serve a crowd-pleasing purpose, and the fact that he is so obviously using the suggestion cards as a jumping-off point makes the show feel looser and more natural, and further engenders that rapport with the audience.

Actually, the more scripted first half of the show is less assured. If you’ve been wondering whatever happened to Hurst in the years since They Think It’s All Over ended, the answer is that he’s been making frequent appearances in theatres. Operating theatres, that is, and the first 45 minutes is essentially a run-through of his health problems.

These include – but are not confined to  cardiac arrhythmia. which drove his heart rate up to 170 beats per minute (72bpm is normal); problems with his phrenic nerve which left his with breathing difficulties, acid reflux, asthma, a ‘referred pain’ in his testicle and sight problems. The 48-year-old didn’t even touch on his severe form of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis,

Medical problems and comedy have always gone hand in surgical glove, with humour often the only rational response to the ridiculous malfunctioning of our bodies, and Hurst gets a few decent laughs here, not least in his description of the after-effects of the barium meal.

Yet this is often too much conversation and too little comedy as Hurst regales the audience with his myriad problems, with a generally light-hearted air that’s broadly enjoyable, but too few solid punchlines. As a appetizer for the second half, it doesn’t have too strong a flavour, and although you might remember his medical miseries, the laughs are more transient.

Yet the evening as a whole is entertaining is not heavyweight – a conclusion you could probably have reached from the title alone. Hurst is back on the road while his FymFyg Bar (formerly the Backyard Club) is being redeveloped, and while Man Vs Woman could do with a bit more construction work, the foundations are solid.

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Lee Hurst seemingly effortlessly combines top-rate material with hysterically funny punter-bashing. I've never seen anyone work a crowd as successfully as him. The Backyard Comedy Club is a must - the first time I went I laughed so hard my stomach hurt for two days afterwards. Also a very cheap venue compared with the Comedy Store etc.

LK, February 2004

Lee Hurst is probably the best live stand up I've seen - his banter with the crowd is superb and his material had me in stitches the whole way through. If you get a chance to see him compere at his Backyard club in Bethnal Green, then do so

Nick, December 2003

The guy's funnier than anything left on the box nowadays. Every time I've seen him I've laughed from my belly, which is the acid test.

Pritch, October 2003

Really funny, one of the best around.

SinBad, August 2003

Where is he? He broke into the stand up world, released videos, got on telly and buggered off. Quite good.

Rayray, August 2003

The banter flows like a fine wine

Mairi McAllister, June 2003

Hated him with a passion. Truly un-funny.

Bazza, June 2003

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