At Spank!

Edinburgh 2008

More Quincy videos

The Book Of Quincy
Live Review

It only seemed fair to warn Quincy ahead of his show that, given there were only two of us in the audience, half of them were planning to review it. But the plucky comedian wasn't going to be intimidated, and was fully prepared to plough on before a pair of late arrivals eased the tension by doubling the size of the ‘crowd’.

It's testimony to Quincy's skill and his charm that all thoughts of awkwardness disappeared as he performed his show.  He opened by asking us if we have any phobias. I stayed silent about his fear of small crowds and left it to one of the latecomers to reveal an irrational fear of the dark.  This proved handy for Quincy as it was the very fear he wanted to talk about.  His fear of the dark is both literal and metaphorical and he uses it as a cipher for more meaningful concerns about the direction his life is taking as he enters middle age.

After running through some material about his dislike of horror movies, Quincy moved on to his main theme: a ‘spiritual reassessment’ of his life that he conducted as he approached his fortieth birthday.  Luckily, each member of his small audience could empathise with this as they were all older than Quincy himself.  After describing how he was worried that his advancing years might mean that he's about to become as lecherous as his father, he tells us about a cousin and a friend who both found God after leading lives chequered by criminality and a complete disregard for the welfare of others.

Quincy uses this to introduce an examination of four of the world's major religions to see what they could offer him. It's a premise with a fair bit of potential and while Quincy doesn't entirely squander the opportunity, he doesn't provide any searing insights either.  His charm prevents the material from ever being offensive but it is over-reliant on cliché and occasionally drifts towards lazy stereotyping of the kind that you expect modern comedians to avoid.

Anyone who's seen Quincy's material about how he came to be a single father will know he's capable of expertly combining comedy with emotional insight – but this set doesn’t pack such a punch. He needs to rely less on his affability and focus more on writing a set worthy of his previous work.  

In fairness, it's perfectly possible that the dynamic provided by more bums on seats would have enabled him to further explore his subject but, without that possibility, the material felt thin. Quincy's stagecraft is impressive and if the writing matched it, he might be able to avoid the ignominy of single-digit audiences on the Free Festival and banish his fear of under-achievement.

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Comfortable to watch. Effortless. Think he is going to be great

danny, July 2011

Agree with the other comments, just went to his show for the first time and he's a natural host and very comfortable to watch.

Lara, December 2009

A remarkable host and comedian, who is creative and inspirational throughout all his performances. Using his skills and experience to unequivocally say he grips every member of the audience in laughter..

Dawn Bishop, July 2007

Being likeable is his greatest strength, while in other comics it can be sickening, in Quincy it feels natural

Mr Boosche, April 2007

This guy made my evening when I was at Birmingham Jongleurs. As the compere he had so much more to offer than the other comics

Debbie, July 2006

Wasn't too sure at first but i was pleasently surprised and impressed

Amanda, May 2006

Saw Quincy at JR's in Bishops Stortford last night. He was superb and even stole the show from the top of the bill act Rob Rouse. Tapped into the crowd and went for it. Top night.

Richie, April 2006

Saw this guy compere a show in stratford and he held the show together Lenny Henry could learn alot from him

Dujon, April 2006

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