Engaging, revealing, honest, strained, very funny. Don't expect a great deal of joie de vivre, and at the grand old age of 39 I kept thinking 'He needs to do a bit of growing up, and getting a bit more comfortable in his body.' He claimed the show was loosely about identity, but I thought he also showed a genuine interest in a search for real conscience and real feeling, and in identifying hypocrisy and the generally dislocated state within and between individuals. I found some of the deliberate tastlessness overdone, unfunny and potentially very hurtful. But I did enjoy the evening. I like him more now than I did before. I'm just more interested to know what he'll be in ten years' time. He's a live one.
Penny Sawell, June 2008
Just seen him live in Reading, was a great evening. He was hilarious, my only criticism is his hair.
Sylvia, June 2008
Simon has a great persona. He's really popular so everyone is totally on his side (except in Woking apparently). He had a slightly ropey first half. A fact he freely admitted when, announcing the intermission, he jokingly declared he was going to go away and rethink it all. The only real problem was that on a couple of occasions he appeared to lose his thread and dry up for a few seconds. This can make an audience feel a little uncomfortable and worry that the comic is going to dry up completely. After a surprise appearance by Jessica Stevenson (/Hynes), the surprise being that she wasn't all that funny. Sorry Jessica but that long story really really needed a funny ending (!) the second half of the show picked up speed and rhythm and was very good. When Simon got into a routine about the tsunami he was on a roll. It was definitely a little 'dangerous' but I doubt anyone was offended. This part of the show was very good. If he can work on getting the whole of the show up to that standard he'll be great. We both enjoyed the show and would definitely go and see him again.
Steve, June 2008
Saw him last night in Oxford. Really funny, a dry sense of humor with some laugh out loud moments. Some good personal moments that are easy to relate to. Well worth seeing
Syd, June 2008
Saw him at the Leeds Varieties on Friday. Great shows. Very funny throughout. I felt it was a bit slow at the beginning but as it progressed it certainly got better and better. Had a great night in the end. The support act Arnab Chandra was also great. Downsides? It was unbelievably hot in the theatre and at one point i couldn't hardly breathe, Lol.
Aaron, June 2008
Saw Simon at Warwick Arts Centre - absolutely brilliant, and definitely way better than Eurovision! If you are reading this, Simon, I think that despite the 'tension', the crowd loved it - some of your humour is more clever-funny than laugh out loud funny, so don't take it all too personally! Hope you enjoyed doing the show as much as we enjoyed watching it.
Connie, May 2008
Saw Simon in Newcastle last night. He gives a lot of himself away with his comedy and at times I wondered if the audience were to him just a bunch of laughing psychiatrists as he opened himself to us about the absurdity of his life. Simon's dry wit either hits you very well or you hang around the edges waiting for the punch. I think a lot depends on the geography of the audience and Simon needs to take that into account more. Simon considers himself old (ish), but he is still very young and has a whole comedic life before him. From what I saw last night I can see Simon keeping his youthful following and building upon that base, which he may do well from BBC2 and in time becoming something akin to the Billy Connolly of his age. By that I may mean that he needs to marry a shrink!
Ian, May 2008
Saw him in Cardiff on 4th May and very nearly wet myself. Material was delivered well and very funny. 10 times better than watching him on telly.
Jamie, May 2008
I saw him last night in Bristol and it was honestly the best thing I've ever seen. The Barbie thing actually had me crying with laughter, and that was pretty much the first thing he said. nI would definitely go and see him again, one of the best nights of my life. And if you do actually read these, Mr. Amstell, then thanks for making my year so far.
Mary, May 2008
I'm only putting this up because Mr Amstell says he reads the reviews here, which I suppose makes me a bigger media whore than him. The show (Richmond , Sunday 29/04) was well paced, intelligent and funny. That said he seems to take it really personally if a gag doesn't work or a reference to something earlier doesn't click. Also, he needs to stop waving his philosophical knickers in the air I don't need to hear the phrase 'stimulus response' 20 times a night. One other thing: once you've been listening to him for a while his delivery sounds weirdly like Frankie Howerd. These are small quibbles. Go and see him, he's funny.
Paul McElroy, April 2008
Saw Simon in Durham on Saturday evening and absolutely loved the show. Very very funny. I only went because it's the kind of show my character would go to, but I enjoyed every second of it.
Paul, April 2008
Went to see him on Saturday, Good night. Material needs work but it was great to see him in the flesh.
wendy and kevin, April 2008
Sickened! Ideally there would be a tour in early April and somewhere I've heard of... or even here in Ireland which would be much more convenient. I'd love to go see him but the dates don't suit :(
