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Nominated for the best headliner award in the Chortle Awards 2009 and 2010 – winning it in 2011

CV

The Horne Section
Live Review

Isabelle Adam

While Britain’s more established comedy clubs stick to playing it safe with their programming, there’s an increasing appetite for big nights out with a bit more soul – which is precisely where Alex Horne and his five-piece jazz-funk backing band come in.

The Horne Section started life, as so many good things do, at the Edinburgh Fringe when our charmingly understated host decided ‘for the first time’ to meld the twin art forms of comedy and music into one delicious hybrid. Now it’s moved to London, with a couple of dates at the Soho Theatre and a Christmas bash at the Union Chapel – and you would be hard pressed to find a more fun night out.

Horne’s air of affable underpreparedness and the spontaneous interactions between band and guests create a vibrant sense of unpredictability, while the toe-tapping music adds an uplifting extra element to the loosely structured shenanigans.

The stylishlydressed band are fully integrated into the quirkily playful proceedings, providing everything from funky jingles for interludes such as the eccentric version of Battleships to improvised serenades to audience members; from a Morris-dance version of Beyonce’s Single Ladies to the accompaniment to the conga line that leads the audience out into the bar for the interval.

Tonight’s eclectically curated variety night offers not just a comedy-music crossbread, however, but a multi-headed comedy-music-movement-juggling-poetry-multimedia chimera.

First up, Milton Jones performs as his grandfather, a cardboard box on his head transporting him to various periods of history for typically offbeat, and often groanworthy, wordplay – although the real entertainment comes from the band struggling to find the appropriate incidental music to represent the various eras.

Variety turns come from ‘gentleman juggler’ Matt Ricardo and his cigar boxes, and magician Pete Firman, with his cheesy Cooper-style failed tricks, a bit dated but reliably amusing. Dance-comedy double act New Art Club proved a bigger hit, though, affectionately mocking the pretensions of modern dance, while producing some nicely exaggerated physical comedy of their own.

Finally, Horne’s frequent collaborator Tim Key treats the audience to his exquisitely mundane low-key poetry, all read from the back of pornographic playing cards, while dealing adeptly with a drunk birthday girl in the audience who just couldn't stand not being the centre of attention, rather out of character for this chummy night.

What works so well is each act’s immersion into the world that Horne and his sidemen have created. Both the music and the winningly haphazard presentation put a stamp of distinctiveness on to the evening, which astute guests fully buy into, ensuring a consistent atmosphere and the feeling this is so much more than the sum of its already entertaining parts. This really is a Horne of plenty.

• The Horne section returns to the Soho Theatre on November 21, with the Christmas special at the Union Chapel on December 13. More pictures from last night's show are here.

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Fantastic, very funny and one of the best acts I've ever see. Andy Lambley 24.01.05

Andy Lambley, January 2005

Fantastically funny and wonderfully deadpan. I'm not going to call him a genius though! The word is a little over-used on this page. Will Green 23.01.05

Will Green, January 2005

Why is this guy not more famous? Three months after seeing him I'm still laughing Trix 22.01.05

Trix, January 2005

He looks like a cross between Jeremy Hardy and Ken Dodd - lucky dog. And for my money, Milton Jones is the funniest stand up in the country - ever. Fantastic. Felix Beacher 14.01.05

Felix Beacher, January 2005

Saw him for the second time last night at The Komedia in Brighton and he was fantastic! When will this man bring out a DVD? Koaste 14.01.05

Koaste, January 2005

We still wake up in the night laughing. An achingly funny man. Come back to Bristol, please. Annie 06.01.05

Annie, January 2005

He had a gig at my school the other day, being an ex-pupil, and actually did quite well, surviving a bunch of cynical sixth-formers, and actually being genuinely funny. Thomas Bush 14.12.04

Thomas Bush, December 2004

He is responsible for some of the best jokes ever written. Fantastically funny act. Cecilia 02.12.04

Cecilia, December 2004

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