Rob Rouse Live at The Bloomsbury Theatre

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Rob Rouse got his first break in comedy by winning the So You Think You're Funny? new act competition in 1998. As well as stand-up, he also performed as part of the Big And Daft trio with Ian Boldsworth and Jon Williams from 1997 to 2002, taking three shows to the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2002 he took his first solo show to the Fringe, and returned the following year.

His TV credits include presenting the first series of The Friday Night Project on Channel 4, the C4 sketch show Spoons, and playing Mike in the first series of he BBC3 sitcom Grown Ups.

Leicester Comedy Festival 2012 preview show
Live Review
Leicester De Montfort Hall

Tricky job, compiling a showcase spanning the full range of the comedy circuit to a largely conservative audience. They came for Tim Vine; they got Nick Helm.

It was a juxtaposition too severe – especially at the very start of the show – to lurch from compere Vine’s silly U-rated puns to the sinister, desperate aggression of a man who’s opening gambit is ‘good evening cocksuckers’, and gets harsher from there.

With a persona that mixes menace with Johnny Vegas-style insecurities, Helm is one of the more exciting recent additions to the circuit – but this was not, generally, his audience. Pockets of hearty laughter could not cover the more general consensus of discomfort.

It’s a shame he didn’t score more universally, as his distinctive act could have provided the opening gala of Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival with the moment of memorable, inspired lunacy it otherwise lacked, despite featuring a line-up of good stand-ups doing good work.

In that context, Vine made the show. His ‘dad jokes’, daft singalongs and cheesy prop gags benefited from being broken up into smaller sections. And his ‘pen behind the ear’ party trick is almost as pure as comedy gets, with its repeated attempts at the most futile of achievements. The optimistic determination induces so much empathy, that it’s a genuine triumph when he pulls it off. Maybe this is some profound comment on the Sisyphean nature of existence. But probably it isn’t.

Following Helm in the comedy lucky dip was sketch trio WitTank, who evoke that old cliché of the genre: ‘a little hit-and miss’. A quickie spoof on Raymond Brigg’s The Snowman got an immediate laugh, while skits on the origin of the baked bean and a fly’s-eye view of the world proved more esoteric. Their triumph, though, was their take on the death of Nelson, which saw Naz Osmanaglu crawling around the giant onstage letters spelling out the sponsor’s name begging sexual favours from his Hardy, in a greatly effective bit of extended, exaggerated improv.

More sober, intellectual musings from birthday boy Tom Rosenthal – which meant a more muted response to match. But while he’s no quickfire funnyman, he is a smart and quirky writer constantly seeking an original route. Such analytical approach means that even his take on Strictly Come Dancing or Destiny’s Child takes on a geekish air, but there are some fine lines in the mix.

Next, Vine introduced a special guest, the latest of the BBC’s entrepreneurial Dragons, Hilary Devey – so convincingly that he temporarily hoodwinked most of the audience. In the event, it was Vikki Stone pulling in a more than passable impression of the wide-shouldered businesswoman. Mimicry aside, there was little more to this set that a spirited, rasping song-and-dance number in character – but the music and energy is a fillip.

Chris McCausland was the revelation of the night. I have to admit previously seen him very much as a journeyman comedian, competent but unexciting, yet here he shone. The material remains rooted firmly in the everyday, from the ups and downs of relationships to the far-from accurate nicknames acquired by his drinking buddies, but it’s told with real skill, endearing charm and a perfect sense of timing. Combine this with the potency of recognition that’s worked so well for the likes of Michael McIntyre, and you have the constituents of a very assured mainstream comedian. The irony that such astute observational material comes from a blind bloke is something he’s previously joked about.

After the interval, and making his second appearance on this show in three years, Rob Rouse continued the domestic theme, with tales from the front-line of fatherhood. There’s not much that sets him apart from the myriad of other comics who mine this experience, but a affable demeanor allows him to put a little edge to his material. It’s a solid, rather then spectacular performance, but goes down well.

Ben Target, who won this festival’s ‘comedian of the year’ title last year, comes on in silly hat and brandishing two fire extinguishers. His heart seems in the right place in trying to create some sort of ‘happening’ on stage, but the execution is ill-thought through. He spent half of his ten minutes crowd-surfing his spindly frame across the auditorium, but the stunt was too calculated, deprived of any sense of excitement or comedy of the unlikely, as you might get when Mrs Barbara Nice (mild-mannered, middle-aged housewife) or Johnny Vegas (lard-arse) tries it. I suppose you could say he went over the audience’s head…

Stone then returned as herself for the second half of her set, which again displayed a strong voice and solid musicianship -– but was comically sparse. She spoke a lot about condoms and lube, mistakenly assuming the topic was funny enough not to need jokes, before employing that old cliché: a love song from the point of view of a disturbed stalker – in this case aimed at Phillip Schofield.

Jason Cook brought a friendly spark to the night, chatting away to the audience about love – the chosen topic of his festival show that he’s performing on Valentine’s Night. He’s always a strong, affable storyteller and ten minutes of good company went down very well, even if he offered more fast-paced banter than really sinking his teeth into the topic. But he’s naturally funny at badinage, so why not?

And to close, Keith Farnan, full of what he himself describes as ‘twinkly Irish bollocks’. His gags about the parlous state of the Irish economy, or the aphrodisiac nature of his accent, were far from revelatory, and the writing was similarly workmanlike. But the man is eminently watchable, providing a reassuringly soft and friendly conclusion to wipe away the memories of that nasty, angry Mr Helm at the start.

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I saw Rob Rouse at the Stockton Festival this weekend just gone and he was fantastic, full of energy and silly as hell. He wasn't afraid to try his hand at mimicking our accent either, and did a very good job of it. A very funny bloke indeed!

Gavin Campbell, August 2007

I thought this guy was ace, not the greatest comedian but he dealt with a heckler very well and genuinely made me laugh. One downfall was that he obviously wasn't listening to the comedian before him very well as he did accidentally repeat the same joke (ooooof) however luckily for him the crowd were happy enough to let it slide, on another night he might not have got away with it. Not a bad act, reasonable.

Viss, September 2006

Brilliant! Saw him at Reading Festival! Really really good! So lively and hyper! Hilarious! Love him

Juliet, August 2006

Rob is one of the funniest comedians I have ever seen. His enthusiastic set is a joy to watch and has had me in tears many a time. Long live Rob Rouse

Paul, August 2006

Saw Rob at Glasgow at the weekend. I haven't laughed so much in years. My mate was in tears. He took the P out of us, and his 'Geordie' impression was brilliant

Mick, July 2006

Just great fun, plain and simple. Seen him a few times and the natural joy he brings to a room takes a lot more skill than most people would ever realise.

Freddy, June 2006

Played at Hi-Fi Club in Leeds last night. He made some joke about someone dying...the funiest gag in the house was when a heckler shouted out "you died half an hour ago mate"...! Not very good at all.

Jonny, February 2006

I nearly wet myself on several occassions. Horribly underrated.

Graham Harrison, February 2006

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