Terry Alderton at Latitude 2010

Note: This review is from 2010

Review by Steve Bennett

Terry Alderton’s the stand-up equivalent of ADHD, with a set that’s a fast-cut cacophony of noise and gags and gimmicks and action, always keeping the audience surprised. It’s like watching TV while a cat plays with the remote, changing channels at random, sometimes dropping you back on something you’d been watching before, sometimes settling on something new – only to flip again when you’re getting into it.

As a technique, it’s as effective as it is original. You have to pay attention to keep up – as if you could ever let your mind wander with this human Looney Toons on stage anyway.

‘I like noise,’ the Southend lad tells us, redundantly given we’re midway through a set that frequently showcases his mean beatboxing skills, although always in the service of a gag, even if apparently tenuously. Plus he has a versatile voice, not only able to impersonate the likes of Lee Evans and Alan Carr, but slip into mini-characters of his own making at the drop of a beat. It means he can keep returning to gags such as his sad-sack Fathers4Justice campaigner with just a single, out-of-context, barked-out line suggesting a whole back story of anguish.

His trademark routine, though, is to vocalise the voices in his head, turning away from the audience to offer a running commentary on the performance, occasionally glancing demonically over his shoulder to glimpse those he’s talking about.

The set’s a maelstrom of activity, full of energy, verve and disorientating snap cuts that continually surprises and entertains.

Review date: 25 Jul 2010
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.